Author: Michele Lanza
Alternate names: Michele Lanza, Leonardo Simoni, Mario da Baranca, Miki Lanza
Born: 8 Jun 1906
Died: 1973
Bio: Michele Lanza (Turin, June 8, 1906 - Madrid, October 1973) was an Italian diplomat and historian.

He graduated in law and began his diplomatic career in 1930. He was First Secretary of the Italian Embassy in Moscow (1930-1934), London (1934-1938) and Berlin (1939 to 1943). Arrested by the Nazis after 8 September for refusing to join the Republic of Salò in Italy and handed to the Fascist authorities he reached the Valsesia and entered the partisan movement where he was responsible for connections between the Garibaldi Brigades and the British and American agents in Switzerland. After returning to Rome in July 1945, he is in charge of the task of preparing the discussions at the Paris Peace Conference in which he participates as Secretary of the Italian delegation. He was then counselor at the Italian Embassy in Ankara (1947-50) and Athens (1950-53). Head of "Yugoslavia" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he participated in the negotiations for resolving the problem of Trieste (1953-54). Subsequently he became Plenipotentiary Minister and then Italian ambassador to Baghdad, Iraq (1954-58) and Rabat, Morocco (1958-63), head of the Italian delegation to the Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, Ambassador to New Delhi, India (1965-68) and Copenhagen, Denmark (1968-72) where his career ended. Michele Lanza died in Madrid in 1973.
He has published books under his own name and under the pseudonym of Mario da Baranca and Leonardo Simoni.

Books published by this author:

"I Primi Insetti" Published in 1920 by Ciriè, Tipografia Capella, Torino. (Miki Lanza)

"Il Pianto del Volga ed altre leggende dell'antica Russia" Published in 1925 by Fratelli Treves, Torino. (Miki Lanza)

"Germania e Russia, 1921-1941, 20 anni di storia diplomatica" [Germany and Russia 1921–1941: Twenty Years of Diplomatic History] Published in 1942 by Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale, in the serie "Problemi del Giorno", Milano, pp. 141. (Pseudonym Mario Da Baranca)

"Berlino, Ambasciata d'Italia, 1939-1943" [Berlin: The Italian Embassy 1939–1943] Published in 1946 by Migliaresi, Roma, pp. 418. (Pseudonym Leonardo Simoni)

"Berlin, Ambassade d’Italie [Berlin: The Italian Embassy], Robert Laffont, Collection Pavillons, Paris, 1947, pp. 493. (Pseudonym Leonardo Simoni)

"Roma e l’Eredità di Alessandro – Gli esordi dell’espansionismo Romano in oriente" [Rome and Alexander’s Legacy: The Beginning of Roman Expansionism in the East], Edizioni di Comunità, Milano, 1971, pp. 327.

"Rom og arven efter Alexander" [Rome and Alexander’s Legacy], Olivetti Litteraturfond, 1971, pp. 292.

"Madama di Serracuore – Quasi una fantasia" Pubblicato nel 1972 da Ramella Tipografi, Biella, 1972, pp. 195.