Matteo Melchiorre was born in 1981. After working as a researcher at the University of Udine, Ca' Foscari University, and the IUAV University of Venice, he has been the director of the Library of the Museum and Historical Archive of Castelfranco Veneto since 2018. His work focuses on the economic and social history of the Middle Ages and the early modern period, as well as the history of mountains and forests. The Duke is his first novel.