[1] Magri was born in Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna, one of the most left-wing regions of Italy, but grew up in the strongly Catholic Bergamo, Lombardy.

In 1995 he left the PRC to form the Movement of Unitarian Communists, established to support a centrist cabinet led by Lamberto Dini.

When the Movement entered the newly formed Democratic Party of the Left in 1998, Magri abandoned it, devoting himself only to il manifesto.

In 2009 he published an essay on the history of the Italian Communist Party, entitled "Il sarto di Ulm.

Reviewing the book, John Green praised it as 'an invaluable platform for understanding the apparent impasse of the present global and systemic crisis'.