author
Alessandro Varaldo
1876–1953
A journalist, playwright, and novelist from Liguria, he helped shape early 20th-century Italian popular fiction. He is especially remembered for creating Commissario Ascanio Bonichi, one of Italy’s first recurring police detectives.
1 Audiobook
Il Falco (Cronaca del 1796)
by Alessandro Varaldo
About the author
Born in Ventimiglia in 1876 and later active in cities including Genoa and Rome, Alessandro Varaldo built a varied literary career as a journalist, writer, and dramatist. Reliable biographical sources describe him as a prolific figure in Italian cultural life, working across fiction, theater, and criticism.
His novels often moved between adventure, sentiment, and popular storytelling, and some were adapted for film. Today, he is most often noted for his crime fiction: with the character Commissario Ascanio Bonichi, Varaldo is widely associated with one of the earliest Italian police-detective series.
That mix of literary ambition and readability makes his work an interesting bridge between classic feuilleton-style fiction and the modern detective novel. For listeners exploring early Italian mystery and drama, he offers a glimpse into a lively period of genre writing.