Marco Vichi was born in Florence in 1957. His novel, L’Inquilino, was published by Guanda in 1999, and then in Greece in 2000.
In 1999, he also worked for RAI RADIO TRE creating five episodes of the programme “Le Cento Lire”, dedicated to art in prison. His second novel, Donne Donne, was published in June 2000, once again by Guanda, and then in Greece in 2004. In January 2002, he published his third novel for Guanda: Il Commissario Bordelli, which was released in Portugal in 2003 and in Spain and Germany in 2004. His second novel of the Inspector Bordelli series, Una Brutta Faccenda, was released in February 2003.
It was subsequently purchased, as also the first novel of the series, in Spain, Germany and Portugal. In the same year he edited a booklet of “homages” to John Fante for Fazi Editore, attached to a documentary on the writer himself (direction by Giovanna Di Lello). Since 2003, he was held writing workshops in various Italian cities and up to 2009 was involved in the degree course in Media and Journalism at the University of Florence. The third episode of the Inspector Bordelli series, Il Nuovo Venuto, was published in May 2004. Meantime, he continued to release short stories in various magazines and anthologies. He cooperated in drafting screenplays, was the editor of literature anthologies, and wrote for national newspapers and magazines. In 2003 and 2004, he was involved in the adaptation from French of Love Bugs, Italia Uno’s TV format. In April 2005, Perché dollari? – a collection of four short stories – was released, featuring Commissario Bordelli in one of them. In July 2005 he organised and directed the R(e)sistere Festival of Sant’Anna di Stazzema. Since 2004, together with the Nausika association, he has worked on a project that led to the foundation of the Arturo Bandini School of Narrations (www.narrazioni.it) in 2005. He edited the anthology, Città in Nero, for Guanda, which was released in July 2006 and includes a short story featuring Commissario Bordelli. His novel, Il Brigante, was released in October 2006, set in Tuscany at the start of the XIX century. Firenze Nera (Aliberti Editore) was published in the same month, a book that contains two short stories, one of which by Emiliano Gucci. In November 2006, a short story of his was published in the anthology, La Vita Addosso (Fernandel), connected to an initiative promoted by the CeIS (Italian Centre for Solidarity) of Lucca (to which the proceeds of the book go). In June 2007, he edited a new anthology for Guanda, Delitti in Provincia, and published a new novel, Nero di Luna (Guanda), in September of the same year. A re-edition of Donne Donne was released in January 2008. In the first months of 2008, he also featured in three anthologies (Piemme, Sperling and Mondadori) and in May his novel Bloody Mary was published for the Verdenero series of Edizioni Ambiente, co-authored with Leonardo Gori. His novel Per Nessun Motivo (Rizzoli) and a collection of short stories, Buio d’Amore (Barbès), were released in November 2008. In the same month, the Puccini Theatre of Florence premiered the chamber opera Hanno Detto (lyrics by Marco Vichi – music by Massimo Buffetti). In January 2009, Florence’s Saloncino del Teatro della Pergola premiered La Cena di Oberto, interpreted by Lorenzo Degl’Innocenti.
A box set (CD + book) was released in June for Magazzini Salani entitled Nessuna Pietà, a project stemming from the idea of using emotions – one of music’s greatest weapons – to convey through songs the greatest tragedies of humanity, ranging from the genocide against American Indians to the scourge of emigration, passing through concentration camps, the Hiroshima bomb, Gulags and the desaparecidos. The CD features lyrics by Marco Vichi and music by Nicola Pecci. Appearances from: Ginevra Di Marco, Stefano Bollani, Piero Pelù, Cisco, Arturo Stalteri, Luca Scarlini, AmbraMarie, Federica Camba, Riccardo Tesi, Steve Luchi and Alessandro Ledda. The book is edited by Scarlini and features an introduction by Carlo Lucarelli.
The fourth novel of the Commissario Bordelli series, Morte a Firenze, was published in September 2009 (Awards: Scerbanenco, Rieti, Camaiore and Azzeccagarbugli), which was released as an audiobook for Salani with the voice of Lorenzo Degl’Innocenti. In May 2010, his novel Un Tipo Tranquillo was published by Guanda. In June, Pellegrinaggio in Città was released (Mauro Pagliai Editore), a collection of articles written for Corriere Fiorentino on places of worship in Florence and surrounding areas. September saw the publication of: Morto Due Volte (Guanda Graphic), the first adventure of Commissario Bordelli told in a comic strip and the Einaudi edition of Bloody Mary, the novel co-authored with Leonardo Gori. In February 2011, a new edition of Buio d’Amore was released for Guanda, containing thirteen short stories, four of which unpublished. The Spanish edition of Morte a Firenze (Duomo Ediciones) was published in the same month. In the same period, he took part in MicroMega 3/2011, dedicated to establishment crimes, with the short story Cara Virginia. In November 2011, Bordelli’s fifth adventure was published, again for Guanda, entitled La Forza del Destino (four editions in one month). The four novels featuring Commissario Bordelli were purchased by the British publishing house Hodder and Stoughton: the first, Death in August, was published in the UK in June 2011 and in the USA in July 2012 (Pegasus). The second, Death and the Olive Grove, was released in the UK by Hodder and Stoughton in January 2012. The third, Death in Sardinia, and the fourth, Death in Florence, were published subsequently. In April 2012, Guanda published his new novel, La Vendetta. In June of the same year he edited the anthology, È Tutta una Follia (Guanda) and published the short story Il Bisticcio (Felici Editore). His novel Il Contratto (Guanda) was released in November and shortly after the e-book, Il Bosco delle Streghe (GuandaBit). In March 2013, he published the collection of stories Racconti Neri (Guanda), and in April he took part in the anthology, Nessuna Più (Elliot), a collection of short stories on women killed “for love”, whose proceeds went to Telefono Rosa (women’s helpline). He edited The Decameron 2013 (Felici Editore), released at the end of May for the seven hundredth anniversary of Boccaccio’s birth: a collection of 100 modern stories, written by forty Tuscan writers and based on the same narrative pattern of the original (ten days, ten stories every day), where the writers are forced to isolate themselves in the Fontenera Castle to narrate the world and find some peace, not because of the plague of Florence during Boccaccio’s time, but because of the Great Crisis of our age. The e-book, Il Testamento, was released at the end of September for Corsivi del Corriere della Sera Online, and at the end of October his first children’s book, published by Salani, entitled La Notte delle Statue. The book is illustrated by Francesco Chiacchio, the excellent artist who for years has worked on Vichi’s book covers for TEA’S economic editions. In April, he took part in the “choral” novel Verità Imperfette, for Del Vecchio Editore. Commissario Bordelli’s sixth adventure, Fantasmi del Passato (Guanda), was published on 3 July 2014.