Giuseppe Scaraffia has been teaching French Literature at La Sapienza University in Rome since 1976. He writes for the Sunday supplement of Il Sole 24 Ore as well as for magazine Sette. He and his partner Silvia Ronchey co-presented the RAI cultural programme L’altra edicola in the 1990s. In 2000, the French Ministry of Culture appointed him Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2008 he won the special Grinzane-Beppe Fenoglio award for his book Cortigiane (2008). Scaraffia likes to dedicate himself seriously to frivolous things, and vice versa. His published novels and essays include Femme fatale (2009), Le torri d’avorio (Excelsior 1881, 2010), Le signore della notte. Storie di prostitute, artisti e scrittori (Mondadori, 2010), La donna fatale (Nuova cultura, 2011), Infanzia (2013), I piaceri dei grandi (Sellerio Editore Palermo, 2013) and Il romanzo della costa azzurra (Bompiani, 2013).