Purgatori dedicated himself in particular to reporting on Italy’s several unsolved ‘mysteries’, including the case of the Vatican teenager Emanuela Orlandi who went missing in 1983.
He was also well known for his work on the Ustica air disaster of June 27, 1980, in which 81 people died.
More recently the journalist, a passionate environmentalist, used the platform provided by his successful TV programme Atlantide on La7 to raise awareness about the climate crisis.
Purgatori also served as President of Greenpeace Italia from 2014 to 2020.
In a statement to ANSA his family described him as “a brilliant mind, who we remember most recently in the La 7 programme Atlantide where he was an author and presenter, and before that as a war correspondent and author of the most important Italian judicial enquiries, then again as the author and scriptwriter of many films and television dramas including Il Muro di Gomma, Fortapasc and Il Giudice Ragazzino”.
Condolences poured in from colleagues and politicians on both sides.
ANSA
