He studied Biological Sciences at university, and though he did not complete his degree,[1] his first novel, Branchie (published by Ediesse in 1994, and then by Einaudi in 1997),[3] drew from his unfinished dissertation.

[9] In 2009, he published Let the Games Begin (Che la festa cominci),[9] and in 2010 Me and You (Io e te), which was later adapted into a movie directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

[9] The script, co-written by Bertolucci, Ammaniti, and others, was nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2013 David di Donatello awards and at the 2013 Italian Golden Globe.

[10][11] In 2015, he published the novel Anna,[12] which six years later was adapted into a TV show aired on Sky Italia and directed by Ammaniti himself.

[13] His directorial debut came in 2017 with the TV series The Miracle, released one year later, a project he both created and co-directed alongside Francesco Munzi and Lucio Pellegrini.