Giuseppe Berto (1914-1978) has been one of the most talented, non-conformist and innovative authors of the Italian 20th century. The son of a modest Veneto family, Berto, in his early twenties, enlisted in the fascist army and fought both in the colonial campaigns in Africa and in World War II. During this conflict he was captured by Allied forces and transferred to a prison camp in Texas, where he became acquainted with the great American authors and sparked his passion for writing, which led to The Sky Is Red, written while in captivity and praised by authors such as Montale and Hemingway. His definitive consecration came in 1964 with the publication of his masterpiece, The Dark Evil. As a result of his literary success, he undertook several collaborations in the cinematographic field, among which the script for the acclaimed film Venetian Anonymous stands out, which Berto transformed into a novel a few years later.