He was born in Florence in 1966. Since 1995 he has been working in illustration for children; he mainly works in watercolour, but he also uses the etching technique. He has published more than eighty books for Italian and foreign publishers, among which Rizzoli, Fabbri, Fatatrac, Mondadori, Salani, Piemme, Edizioni San Paolo, Messaggero di S. Antonio, C’era una volta, Cideb, EDB, Creative Edition (USA), Barefoot Books (UK), Bohem Press (Zurich), Grimm Press (Taipei), Tyrolia Verlag (Innsbruck). His original publications have been translated into many different languages. In 2003 he was awarded the Italian Andersen Prize as best illustrator of the year. In 2012 he was awarded the Junior Library Guild in the USA. He took part in the Bratislava Biennale in 2001, 2003 and 2011. He displayed his work at the International Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition in Sàrmede from 1996 to 2014 (in 2014 he was guest of honour, with a personal exhibition of 100 illustrations). He also participated in the Bologna Book Fair from 1995 to 1999, in “I colori del sacro” at the Diocesan Museum in Padua in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011/12 and 2014. He displayed his work at Turin Book Fair in 2011, at “Tales for the telling” in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2000 and 2004, at the Children’s Museum in Manhattan (New York) in 1999 and 2000, at “Mat-ita, Matite italiane” during the Bologna Book Fair in 2000, at “The Italy picture book” in Osaka and Tokyo in 2001-2002. He has also taken part in many other national and international events.
