Born in the northern town of
Luino, near the
Italian border with Switzerland, Salvi started his career in the mid-1980s. His performances over the years have included but are not limited to: cabaret, cinema, animated cinema, music, writing, theatre and television, with varying degrees of success. During 1985–1987, Francesco Salvi was one of the main characters of the satirical TV variety show
Drive In. From 1988 to 1989, Salvi hosted his own television program,
MegaSalviShow;. The title song of the show, "C'è da spostare una macchina" ('Gotta Move a Car'), of which Salvi was author and singer, gained a great commercial success, topping the Italian hit parade. In 1989 he also made his directorial debut with the film
Vogliamoci troppo bene (Let's love too much) and took part in the
Sanremo Music Festival with the song "
Esatto!" ('Exactly!'), which obtained critical and commercial success. He later took part to three more editions of the Festival between 1990 and 1996. In 1991, he took part to the
musical ''L'Odissea'', a satirical music show inspired from
Homer's
Odyssey, aired by
Canale 5 and directed by Beppe Recchia. Salvi interpreted
Telemachus and
Polyphemus, while Andrea Roncato played
Ulysses and pornographic actress
Moana Pozzi played
Penelope. The same year Salvi starred in another satirical musical show, inspired by
Alexandre Dumas's
The Three Musketeers:
I Tre Moschettieri, in which he played
Athos. On 1 March 1992, Francesco Salvi appeared in comics in the
comic magazine Topolino, issue 1982, in the comic strip ''Pippo e l'ospite d'onore
("Goofy and the guest star"), which Salvi co-authored. In the same year, he hosted the Italia 1 television show La strana coppia'' ("The Odd Couple"), together with fellow Italian comedian
Massimo Boldi. During 1995 and 1996, Salvi worked with
Disney for the radio program
Radiotopogiro, aired by
Rai Radio 2. He also took part in
Antonio Ricci's satirical television show
Striscia la notizia, both as host and as fake cultural correspondent. In 2001 Salvi played his first dramatic role in the film
The Comeback, and was nominated for
Silver Ribbon for
best actor. From 2004 he started working in the successful television series
Un medico in famiglia, in which he starred for three seasons. In 2006, Francesco Salvi co-hosted the third edition of the reality show
La Fattoria (Italian version of
The Farm), set in
Morocco. In the same year he starred in the television shows
Suonare Stella and
Comedy Club (where he taught comedy to Italian singer
Syria) and had a significant role in the crime film
10th & Wolf. In 2008, Salvi was the recipient of the "Penisola Sorrentina Arturo Esposito" Best Male Character Award. Francesco Salvi is the most cited author in
Gino Vignali and Michele Mozzati's comedy quotes anthology
Anche le formiche nel loro piccolo si incazzano ("Ants also, for their humble part, lose patience"). ==Filmography==