Franco Iseppi is professor of Communications Theories and Techniques at Turin’s Polytechnic (Cinema and Media Engineering School). He was vice-president of Italy’s Touring Club since 2008. Later on he was the scientific coordinator for Italy’s “Buon Ricordo” Foundation and has been president of Italy’s Touring Club since 2010. In the past he authored and produced TV programs of RAI, then became Director of programming and subsequently Director General from 1998 to 2003. A keen observer of mass communications, Iseppi currently contributes to specialist journals and magazines.

Roberto Weber, founding member and president of SWG, has a long professional experience in designing and conducting public opinion polls and surveys. He has directed social and economic surveys for public and private sector entities and a number of print and broadcast media. He is currently in charge of designing economic research groups and works as a consultant for socio-political studies and surveys commissioned by individual candidates and political parties. His books include: Perché corriamo? (Einaudi, 2007). 

Paolo Rumiz is the special correspondent for the Piccolo newspaper in Trieste and an editorial writer for the paper la Repubblica. He is an expert on the subject of Heimat and of identity in Italy and in Europe. His published writings include: Il leone di Lissa (Il Saggiatore, 2003); and, published by Feltrinelli: Tre uomini in bicicletta (with F. Altan, 2002), È Oriente (2003), La leggenda dei monti naviganti (2007), Annibale. Un viaggio (2008), L’Italia in seconda classe (2009), La cotogna di Istanbul. Ballata per tre uomini e una donna (2010), Ballata per tre uomini e una donna (2010) also in audio-book version read by Moni Ovadia, Il bene ostinato (2011), Maschere per un massacro (2011), Maledetta Cina (ebook, 2012), Trans Europa Express (2012), Morimondo (2013).

Alfredo Lacosegliaz composed the music accompanying the lyrics in the styles of the different lands where the novel is set, ranging from apocryphal songs to Bosnian melodies, with echoes of popular waltzes and sounds from the Middle East. In addition to the narrator Paolo Rumiz, the performers include: Ornella Serafini, voice; Cristina Verità, violin and voice; Daniele Furlan, clarinet; Orietta Fossati, keyboards; Alfredo Lacosegliaz, drums.

Paolo Rumiz is the special correspondent for the Piccolo newspaper in Trieste and an editorial writer for the paper la Repubblica. He is an expert on the subject of Heimat and of identity in Italy and in Europe. His published writings include: Il leone di Lissa (Il Saggiatore, 2003); and, published by Feltrinelli: Tre uomini in bicicletta (with F. Altan, 2002), È Oriente (2003), La leggenda dei monti naviganti (2007), Annibale. Un viaggio (2008), L’Italia in seconda classe (2009), La cotogna di Istanbul. Ballata per tre uomini e una donna (2010), Ballata per tre uomini e una donna (2010) also in audio-book version read by Moni Ovadia, Il bene ostinato (2011), Maschere per un massacro (2011), Maledetta Cina (ebook, 2012), Trans Europa Express (2012), Morimondo (2013).

Folco Quilici, traveller, writer, director, is the most famous Italian story-teller about foreign countries and people. His books and his movies won several awards, like Sesto continente and Fratello mare. He directed the column GEO on air on RAI3. He wrote for Life, Epoca, Panorama, Europeo, La Stampa, il Corriere della Sera and Il Messaggero. He won the Premio Italia for journalism (1969), the Premio Giornalistico Europeo (1990) and the Premio Campidoglio for his career in cultural journalism (1997). He was professor at the University of Bologna, of Berlin, at the Cinema Centre of the Catholic University of Milan. In 2006 Forbes included him in the 100 most influential people of the world thanks to his movies and to his books about the environment. His writings include: La fenice del Bajkal (2005), Sì, viaggiare (with C. Ruggeri, 2006), I miei mari (2007), Libeccio (2008), Terre d’avventura (2009), Storie del mare (2011), La dogana del vento (2011), Amico oceano (2012), Relitti e tesori (2012) published by Mondadori.

Arjun Appadurai, the social-cultural anthropologist, was born in Bombay in 1949 and currently teaches at New York University. He is renowned as a leading expert in the cultural dimensions of globalization. His work has opened up cultural anthropology to the challenges of post-modern complexity. His research ranges from migrations to the technologies of mass communication, which he views as decisive in defining the notion of “modernity at large”. Some of his books now available in Italian are: Modernity at large (Raffaello Cortina Editore, 2012) and Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger (Meltemi Editore, 2005). Modernity at large, already considered a classic in social science, responds to the challenges of globalization by describing the world as a system of flows in which people, money, pictures, technologies and ideologies travel incessantly across the planet.

Ryszard Kapuściński was born in Pinsk and died in Varsavia (1932-2007). His books and reports include: Il Negus (1983), Imperium (1994), Lapidarium (1997), Ebano (2000), In viaggio con Erodoto (2005), Autoritratto di un reporter (2006), L’altro (2007), Ancora un giorno (2008), Nel turbine della storia (2009), Giungla polacca (2009) published by Feltrinelli; Opere (Mondadori, 2009) for Mondadori’s i Meridiani collection by S. De Fanti.

Giuseppe Battiston, one of the most widely acclaimed stage and movie actors of Italy’s new generation, has played in S. Soldini’s Pane e tulipani (2000, that performance won him important awards such as the David di Donatello and the Ciak d'oro), Agata e la tempesta (2004) and Il comandante e la cicogna (2012). He also played in C. Mazzacurati’s La giusta distanza (2007), La Passione (2010, David di Donatello and Nastro d’argento awards). He was cast with the comedians Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo in Chiedimi se sono felice. He also played in C. Comencini’s La bestia nel cuore (2005); in A. Segre Io sono Li (2011); in M. Oleotto Zoran, il mio nipote scemo (2012). Among his stage performances were Orson Welles' Roast (2009), that won him the UBU award for the best leading man, 18 mila giorni-il Pitone, written by Andrea Bajani and Italy with Gianmaria Testa (2011); Macbeth (2012).

Andrea Bocconi divides his time between psychotherapy and writing. He is a writing professor at the ‘School of Travel’. His books published by Guanda include: Viaggiare e non partire (2002), Il giro del mondo in aspettativa. Istruzioni per sperdersi: modi e luoghi (2004), La tartaruga di Gauguin (2005), Di buon passo. Tra Toscana e Umbria un viaggio a piedi lungo i sentieri del Medioevo (2007), In viaggio con l’asino (with Claudio Visentin, 2009), India formato famiglia (2011).

Claudio Visentin teaches History of Tourism at the University of Italian-language Switzerland and he is the director of the History Museum of Bergamo. He studies and describes new travel styles from the pages of the Sunday supplement of Il Sole 24 Ore. He has founded the ‘School of Travel’ where people improve their understanding and depicting places by means of writing, photography, and drawing. He published In viaggio con l’asino (with Andrea Bocconi, Guanda, 2009). 

Allan Bay is an enogastronomic journalist contributing to Corriere della Sera and to ViviMilano where is responsible for the column about the restaurants in Milano. Cuisine has always been his passion, from great restaurants to the history of nutrition. Not a big fan of tradition, he loves mixing techniques and foods. Cookery has always been his favourite hobby. His two manuals Cuochi si diventa (2003 and 2004), published by Feltrinelli, have met with huge success. He is the editor of Ponte Alle Grazie’s cuisine series Il lettore goloso, and has produced the Salani Gabo set of books for children. Among his latest publications are: La cena delle meraviglie (with Camilla Baresani, Feltrinelli, 2008); Cucinare verde (with Cristina Bay, Tea, 2008); La dieta BaSo (with Nicola Sorrentino, Salani, 2008); La Cucina Nazionale Italiana (with P. Salvatori, Ponte alle Grazie, 2008); Nella mia cucina (2010), Cosa mangiamo. La guida completa per conoscere segreti e proprietà di tutti gli alimenti (with N. Sorrentino, 2011) published by Mondadori Electa. 

Colin Thubron is one of the leading travel writers and features in The Times list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Born in London in 1939 and educated at Eton College, before becoming a writer Thubron worked for five years in publishing in London and New York, and made independent documentary films in Turkey, Japan and Morocco. Behind the Wall: A Journey through China Oltre la muraglia (Un viaggio in Cina, Ponte alle Grazie 2001) won him the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award. Thubron lives in London and contributes to The Times, The Times Literary Supplement and The Spectator. He is a Fellow and, as of 2010, President of the Royal Society of Literature. His extraordinarily well-researched travel books combine erudition and the sheer pleasure of discovery. They include: In Siberia (2000), Verso l’ultima città (2002), Ombre sulla Via della Seta (2006), Il cuore perduto dell’Asia (2007), Verso la montagna sacra (2011), all published in Italian by Ponte alle Grazie.