A native of Rome, Marco Mattioli has been interested in military history since he was a teenager. In 1992 he joined the Italian National Journalist Order, after which he was employed as a writer for several leading Italian history publishers. A contributor to many important Italian history and defence magazines, as well as the author of a number of books on Italian military aviation, he wrote Osprey [i]Aviation Elite Units 38: 53° Stormo[/i] and Osprey [i]Combat Aircraft 106: Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero Torpedo-Bomber Units[/i].