He was a university teacher at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of his native city, Rome.

He was Italian Minister of Health in Lamberto Dini's non-partisan members government.

[1] Specialist in respiratory diseases and in hygiene, he was director of the hospitals Santo Spirito, San Camillo and Policlinico Umberto I in Rome.

He was Paolo Guzzanti's uncle, a journalist and politician belonging to Responsible Initiative, whose children Corrado, Sabina and Caterina are comedians and celebrities.

He died on May 2, 2014, at the age of 93 at the Policlinico Gemelli in Rome, where he had been hospitalized for a few days.