He is a writer for La Règle du Jeu, Nuovi Argomenti, A, and Shalom magazines.

[3] His uncle, Ettore Ovazza,[4] had been an early financer of Benito Mussolini, of whom he was a personal friend, and Italian fascism,[5] which he supported until the Italian racial laws of 1938; the founder of an anti-Zionist journal, La nostra bandiera, he was murdered in 1943 by Nazis, along with the rest of his family, whose bodies were burned in boiler of the schools of Intra, Italy.

[8] Elkann was a collaborator of important Italian writers, such as Alberto Moravia and Indro Montanelli.

He wrote novels, essays, and articles, among which are a book he co-wrote with Italian Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff, a former religious leader in Rome, called How to Be a Jew and Other Works and a book of conversation with him called The Messiah and the Jews (Il Messia e gli ebrei).

[10] Since 2007, Elkann has been the president of Fondazione CittàItalia, and is also president of the Alliance française of Turin, president of Mecenate 90 (Rome), president of the scientific committee of Palazzo Te (Mantua), [11] president of the FIAC of New York (Italian Foundation for Art and Culture), vice-president of the Fondazione Rosselli, board member of the IULM University of Milan where he teaches literature and arts, board member of the Museo Mega (Gallarate), member of the jury of Premio Internazionale Mondello Palermo and of Premio Roma, and image consultant for the municipality of Milan.