Andrea Purgatori (1 February 1953 – 19 July 2023) was an Italian journalist, writer, screenwriter, television presenter and occasional actor.
Life and career Born in Rome, in 1974 Purgatori started his career as a journalist, and in 1976 he began a long collaboration with the newspaper Corriere della Sera, in which he served as an investigative journalist and a war correspondent. He later collaborated with other publications, including Le Monde diplomatique, The Huffington Post, Vanity Fair and L'Unità.
As a screenwriter Purgatori's credits include several Marco Risi's films, notably The Rubber Wall (1991), based on his own investigation about the Ustica affair, and Fort Apache Napoli (2010), about the murder of journalist Giancarlo Siani, as well as films by Giuliano Montaldo, Michele Placido, Carlo Verdone, Alessandro Di Robilant. He was also an occasional actor, mainly in projects involving comedian Corrado Guzzanti, with whom he also collaborated as a writer in a number of television and stage projects. In 2001, he received the prize "Archivio Disarmo - Golden Doves for Peace" from IRIAD.
From 2017, Purgatori wrote and hosted the program Atlantide on La7; in 2019, the program was awarded the Flaiano Prize for best cultural television show. In 2022, he appeared prominently in the Netflix documentary series Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. He was also an essayist, and in 2019 he made his debut as a novelist with Quattro piccole ostriche.
An environmental activist, Purgatori served as president of the Italian branch of Greenpeace from 2014 to 2020. He died in Rome, on 19 July 2023, at the age of 70. Purgatori was the father of the actor Edoardo Purgatori and was a fan of the Serie A club A.S. Roma.
He considered himself a "dubious believer".
Death Purgatori died at the age of 70 on 19 July 2023, two months after being diagnosed with a serious form of brain cancer. The day after his death, to ascertain the appropriateness of the treatment the journalist had been subjected to, his family filed a complaint with the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office, which opened an investigation for culpable homicide against the doctors. The post-mortem carried out the following September confirmed the absence of metastases in the brain at the time of death. and an expert report ordered by the prosecutor's office in April 2024 traced the causes of death back to unrecognized infective endocarditis, for which antibiotics would have sufficed instead of the radiotherapy he was subjected to. In March 2025, a request was made to send four doctors — a cardiologist, a radiologist, and two of his assistants — to trial on charges of manslaughter.
Filmography
Screenwriting credits YearTitle Notes1987Specters1989Maya1990Panama Sugar1991The Rubber Wall1992Nel continente nero1994Law of Courage1995State Secret1998Last CutVite blindateTelevision film1999Fine secoloMiniseries2000SospettiTV series (season 1)2001L'attentatumi2003–2010Un caso di coscienzaTV series (co-writer)2006Il fantasma di CorleoneAttacco allo StatoTelevision filmFratelli2006–2007Nati ieriTV series (co-writer)2008CaravaggioTelevision filmIl bambino della domenica2010Angel of Evil2011The Entrepreneur2012Inspector NardoneTV series2013Cha cha cha2015Ragion di StatoTelevision film2016Lampedusa - Dall'orizzonte in poiMiniseries2022Vatican Girl: La scomparsa di Manuela OrlandiDocuseries
Acting roles YearTitleRole(s) Notes1991The Rubber WallJournalistCameo appearance 2001Three WivesBeatrice's friendCameo appearance 2006Fascisti su MarteFecchia2008, 2022BorisLawyer KalemzuckTV series (4 episodes)2010Due vite per casoLawyerCameo appearance 2012A Flat for ThreeClaudio Romeres2016 EarsOtolaryngologist2016The Big ScoreTheatre manCameo appearance 20171993Niccolò PizzettiTV series (3 episodes)2018Just BelieveRabbi2022Vatican Girl: La scomparsa di Manuela OrlandiHimselfDocuseriesThe Bad GuyHimselfTV series 2024FlaminiaMr. De Rotier
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