Umberto Simonetta

Born in Milan, Simonetta grew up in Switzerland where his father had been forced to move as an anti-fascist. He wrote several novels, some of them adapted into films such as Normal Young Man by Dino Risi and I viaggiatori della sera by Ugo Tognazzi. He directed the Teatro Gerolamo in Milan from 1979 until its close in 1983. As a lyricist, he often collaborated with Giorgio Gaber.

In his later years Simonetta collaborated with the newspaper Il Giornale as a theatrical critic and was one of the screenwriters of the sitcom Nonno Felice. He died of tumor.