- Italo Calvino (/kælˈviːnoʊ/, also US: /kɑːlˈ-/, Italian: [ˈiːtalo kalˈviːno]; 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy (1952–1959), the Cosmicomics collection of short stories (1965), and the novels Invisible Cities (1972) and If on a winter’s night a traveler (1979).