Born in Catania into an upper-middle-class family and the nephew of writer Giuseppe Villaroel, Patti started working as a journalist at very young age, before graduating in law in 1925.

[1] After practicing for a year in his father's firm, he decided to move to Rome to earn a living from journalism.

[1] There, after some sporadic collaborations, he was employed by the newspaper Gazzetta del Popolo, where he was a foreign correspondent in China, India and Japan, among other places.

[1] Patti gained notoriety as a novelist in 1940 with Quartieri alti, a satirical portrait of Roman high classes.

[1] His novels are mainly set in Rome or in a sensual Sicily, which was, according to literary critic Carlo Bo, a sort of philosophical ideal for Patti.