Mario Barenghi is full professor of Contemporary Italian literature at the University of Milan Bicocca, and an authority on Italo Calvino.

He was one of the editors of Calvino’s work for the Mondadori Meridiani series (Romanzi e racconti, 1991-1994; Saggi, 1995); he also devoted two monographic studies to Calvino. His recent publications deal with literary theory, the work of Primo Levi and the theme of death in contemporary Italian literature.