He wrote in a variety of genres including reportage, satire, essays, novels, autobiography and humor.

Although raised in France, he grew up surrounded by Italian immigrants due to his father being from Bettola, Italy.

Les Ritals, dealt with his childhood, while Les Russkoffs (and later Maria) treated his experience in World War II, where he was transported to Germany to serve in the Service du Travail Obligatoire (Frenchmen serving as German slave-labour).

[2] In Bête et méchant and Les yeux plus grands que le ventre he tells his hilarious experiences in Hara-Kiri and Charlie Hebdo.

The final book of his published while he was still living, Lune de miel, deals with Cavanna's Parkinson disease.