Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directed several avant-garde pieces until 1989.

Both films shared a group of actor-friends, including Diego Abatantuono and Fabrizio Bentivoglio, who will be present in many of his later movies.

In 1992, he released Puerto Escondido, from the eponymous novel by Pino Cacucci, in which Abatantuono and Bentivoglio were joined by another standard actor for Salvatores, Claudio Bisio.

The following year he directed Sud, featuring Silvio Orlando, an attempt to denounce the political and social situation of the Mezzogiorno of Italy seen from the point of view of the unemployed and those at the margins of society.

The main themes of Salvatores' screenplays are escape from a reality that cannot be accepted or understood, nostalgia for friends, and voyages that never end.