Ercole Patti

Ercole Patti ( 16 February 1903 – 15 November 1976) was an Italian author, dramatist, screenwriter and journalist.

Born in Catania into an upper-middle-class family, the nephew of author Giuseppe Villaroel, Patti started working as a journalist at very young age, before graduating in law in 1925. After practicing for a year in his father's firm, he decided to move to Rome where earning a living from journalism. There, after some sporadic collaborations, he was employed in the newspaper Gazzetta del Popolo, where he was a foreign correspondent in China, India and Japan, among other places. He got notoriety as a novelist in 1940, with Quartieri alti, a satirical portrait of Roman high classes. His novels are mainly set in Rome or in a sensual Sicily, which was, according to literary critic Carlo Bo, a sort of philosophical ideal for Patti.

Patti was active as a screenwriter since 1935, and a number of his novels were adapted into films. In addition to novels Patti published collections of short stories and two autobiographical works.

Selected filmography

• But It's Nothing Serious (1936)
• A Woman Has Fallen (1941)
• La cugina (1974)