Dell'Oro is of Italian ascendancy. She was born on 4 April 1938 in
Asmara, the city where she spent the first twenty years. of her life. Her paternal grandfather moved from
Lecco to Eritrea in 1886, following the colonial adventures of Italians at that time and supported by the Italian government. Her childhood and adolescence was experienced in Eritrea where she grew up under colonial occupation along with her family. At age twenty, Dell'Oro left Eritrea for Milan, where she planned to become a journalist, but worked mainly as a bookseller. Her family and the influences of living under colonialism encouraged her to publish her first autobiographical novel,
Asmara Addio in 1988. == Works ==