Arrigo Petacco (7 August 1929 – 3 April 2018) was an Italian writer, historian and journalist. Life and activities Petacco was special envoy, editor-in-chief and executive director of La Nazione and La Storia Illustrata, and author of the homonymous monthly television program on the RAI. He began his journalistic career at Il Lavoro, a newspaper published in Genoa, directed by Sandro Pertini. Prolific historical writer, experienced journalist, he wrote several film plots and made numerous television programs, especially for RAI, the Italian main public service broadcaster. In his career as a journalist has interviewed some of the protagonists of the Second World War. In 1957, Petacco married Lucetta De Martino with whom he had two daughters: Monica, who lives in Rome, and Carlotta, living in Milan. He is widowed since 1989. Since then he lives alone in Portovenere, near La Spezia. In 1983, he won the Saint Vincent award for journalism and in 2006 received the Capo d'Orlando prize for journalism. Petacco died on 3 April 2018 of liver cancer at the age of 88. Works "A tragedy revealed" Petacco's masterwork is the historical essay L'esodo: la tragedia negata d'Istria, Dalmazia e Venezia Giulia 1942–1956 published in 1999 and later translated in several languages. The English edition was published in 2005 under the title A tragedy revealed: the story of the Italian population of Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia, 1942–1956, and had immediately a great success. Exposing in the book one of the great atrocities of our time, Petacco gives voice in a very touching way to the suffering of a people who were rejected and denied by their own country. Those who survived are validated by the historical and personal accounts presented in the book. Publications La morte cammina con la sposa. (Collezione: I romanzi della notte). Rome, Boselli, 1958. L'anarchico che venne dall'America. Storia di Gaetano Bresci e del complotto per uccidere Umberto I. Milan, Mondadori, 1969. La seconda guerra mondiale. 9 volumi. Rome, Armando Curcio Editor, 1979. Joe Petrosino. Milan, Mondadori, 1972. Dal Gran Consiglio al Gran Sasso: una storia da rifare. Milan, Rizzoli, 1973 (coautore Sergio Zavoli). Il prefetto di ferro. L'uomo di Mussolini che mise in ginocchio la mafia. Milan, Mondadori, 1975. Le battaglie navali del Mediterraneo nella Seconda guerra mondiale Milan, Mondadori, 1976. Riservato per il Duce. Milan, Mondadori 1979. Storia del Fascismo. 6 volumi. Rome, Armando Curcio Editore, 1981. Pavolini: l'ultima raffica di