Mario Biondi (born 17 May 1939) is an Italian writer, poet, literary critic, journalist and translator. His reputation is mainly due to the novel Gli occhi di una donna, which earned him the important Italian award Premio Campiello in 1985. He has a keen interest in Central Asia and Tibetan history and culture, and in recent years has travelled all of the Silk Road through Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan and many provinces of China, among which Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Qinghai and obviously Xizang (Tibet). Biography Born in Milan and grown up near Lake Como, he graduated from Bocconi University and then worked for sixteen years in publishing (Einaudi, Sansoni, Longanesi), as Chief Press Officer before becoming a freelance author. He has been constantly active in Anglo-American narrative, of which he is also a translator and reviewer for several dailies, weeklies and monthlies. He was a professional novelist for more than twenty years, and a publicist for more than thirty. In 1973 he published a small collection of poems, Per rompere qualcosa, followed by other poems published on various literary publications or anthologies (Il Verri, Altri termini, Pianura etc.). He has also published fourteen novels and, more recently, three books of travel memories (see detailed lists below). Trivia: In the very first youth he also wore the Italian blue jersey of the junior and university teams of athletics, being included in the first prospective team for the Olympic Games in Rome, 1960, where unfortunately he could not participate due to injury. In 1994 he was awarded the Literary Prize of CONI, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano. Travels Biondi has begun his travels in 1968, and in 2003 he has collected his memories in his first book of travels Güle Gule. Parti con un sorriso. 35 years of voyages from New York City to Iran, through Algeria, Albania, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt. In 2004 he realized that he had unknowingly travelled most of the Silk Road, so he completed the route crossing Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, reaching China at Kashgar through the Tien Shan (Mountains of Heaven) and from there crossing the Taklamakan Desert to Turpan (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, Bezeklik). And in 2005 he collected his new memories in his second book of travels, Strada bianca per i Monti del Cielo. Between 2005 and 2007, Biondi has also completed "philologically" the Silk Road to its eastern end, represented by the