Biography

Lectured at the University of Chicago, Yale University, Harvard University and Columbia University.

Prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics, she was shot three times by Mexican armed forces, but managed to survive.

Spent the last years of her life in New York fighting against breast cancer, but decided to die in her native Florence (September 2006).

Wrote a series of critical and controversial books about Islam and Arab culture, most notably "La rabbia e l'orgoglio" (The Rage and The Pride, 2001).

Italian author and journalist interviewing many political leaders and international celebrities such as Henry Kissinger, Lech Walesa, Willy Brandt, Federico Fellini, Golda Meir, Deng Xiaoping and Sean Connery. She was the first woman from a Western county, who was allowed to interview Ayatollah Khomeini.