I was born in Prato (Italy) in 1952. Since graduating in Persian language and literature from the University of Venice in 1975, I have been teaching those subjects at the same university. I was director of the Department of Eurasian Studies at Venice University from 1990 until 1996 and from 1999 until 2005. I have published many articles and books about classical and contemporary Persian poetry, also working in the field of translation (my translations into Italian include two books of poems by the Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami: Con il vento, Milan, 2001; Un lupo in agguato, Turin, 2003). Currently I am working on questions of stylistics and rhetoric with a special focus on Persian rhyme and satirical and obscene verse. At the same time as my university studies, I have carried out an intense photographic activity initially devoted to the Persian landscape. My first one-man show of photographs was at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, in October 1976. A year later I showed my works at the 14th São Paulo Contemporary Art Biennial, Brazil, and at the Diaframma gallery, Milan. In 1978 I graduated with a diploma in film-making and director of photography from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Rome. Since then I have held exhibitions in various Italian cities (Milan, Venice, Bologna, Prato, Bolzano, Montemurlo, Quarrata, Borbiago, Bari, Barolo, Rome, Mestre). In May 2005 I organized an exhibition at the Silk Road gallery in Tehran together with Abbas Kiarostami. In September 2007 my photos of Iran were shown at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. From 28 August to 14 October 2007 I showed my photos of Iran together with photos by Abbas Kiarostami and 56 other Iranian photographers at the Centro Culturale Candiani in Mestre-Venice (catalogue: Iran gente strade paesaggi, Marsilio, Venice, 2007; English edition: Iran people roads landscapes, Marsilio, Venice, 2007). My explorations of the Persian landscape have been featured in magazines (Atlante, XVI, 130, 1975, pp.40-49; Il Diaframma-Fotografia Italiana, 219, 1976, pp.27-34), miscellanies (Oltre la soglia: Iran, cultura, arte, storia, Venice, 2005, pp.146-153), and books (Golsciane raz, Milan, 1976; Verso Nondove, Tehran, 1984; Un giardino nella voce, Florence, 1995; While poppies bloom, Tehran, 2005; Solitudini persiane, Bari, 2006). Although so far my published photographs have concentrated on the Persian landscape, I have actually taken photographs in over thirty countries and I have a rich archive of images of them. I now plan to publish the most significant photographs from my collection on this site. Two books of photographs taken outside Iran are Il libro di Lenin (Venice, 1992) and Venezia alle finestre (Venice 2006). The photographs of Venezia alle finestre were shown at the Real Academia de España in Rome (19 December 2006 - 18 January 2007), at Ca' Foscari University in Venice (16 maggio - 16 giugno 2007, Ca’Foscari), and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran (19 February - 19 April 2008).