Born in Milan in 1939. He attended drama lessons at La Societa Filodrammatici, at Giorgio Strehler’s Piccolo Teatro. He first appeared as an actor in minor roles in Luchino Visconti’s Rocco e i suoi fratelli and in Mario Monicelli’s Risate di gioia, alongside Anna Magnani. His encounter with Magnani was decisive for his turn to directing. In 1962 he collaborated with Nanni Loy and then worked as assistant producer and assistant director in the cinema, alongside Riccardo Freda, Roberto Rossellini, Joseph Losey, Franco Zeffirelli, John Huston, Sergio Gobbi e.a..He was then hired as assistant director at Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, working alongside distinguished directors such as Aldo Mirabella Vassallo, Mauro Bolognini and Filippo Crivelli. In 1974 he directed his first jobs in advertising and the theater (Milan). Subsequently, he directed opera and musicals and collaborated with Franco Zeffirelli in the production of La Traviata. In 1986 he directed his first long film and continued with films for television. In 2000 he wrote and directed a film about the canonization of Mother Bakhita. Since 2003 he has been teaching cinematography in Catania, Gela, Milan and Lombardy. In 2008 he opened the Lombardy Film Festival with a documentary about Anna Magnani, and more documentaries followed. In 2011 he served as a member of judging panels in international short film competitions. He directed the first staging of L’ Italiana in Algeri at the Greek National Opera (1977/8, 1979/80).