He started out his career at a very young age, creating his very first comic story at just twelve. He graduated in architecture but preferred to dedicate himself to illustrating record covers first and then working as a graphic designer, creating campaigns for Shell, Campari, Omsa, Esso, Standa, Rizzoli, Dunlop, and Terital, Primizia, Iveco, Fuji, Breil, and Honda.

In 1965, thanks to the magazine Linus, he returned to comics to create the character that made him famous worldwide: Valentina, one of the few comic book heroines and the only one aged with its author.

He created meticulous adaptations of certain classics in literature (from Emmanuelle to Histoire d'O, from Justine to Venus in Fur, from Dracula to Frankenstein, from Doctor Jekyll to Screw tour, from Poe to Kafka).

Overall, he created over 5,000 comics, and over 200 editions of his books have been published in the most spoken languages.

In his 40 years of work, he also created hundreds of illustrations for newspapers, accessories, fashion, and design; worked in theatre, cinema and television; and created dozens of lithographs.

Numerous solo exhibitions have been dedicated to him in Italy and abroad. They were written by Roland Barthes, Alan Robbe-Grillet, Gillo Dorfles, Umberto Eco, and many others. A hobby of his was inventing board games. He left us on the 31st of July 2003.