Arrigo Petacco (7 August 1929 – 3 April 2018) was an Italian writer, historian and journalist.

Petacco was special envoy, editor-in-chief and executive director of La Nazione and La Storia Illustrata, and author of the homonymous monthly television program on the RAI.^[1]

He began his journalistic career at Il Lavoro, a newspaper published in Genoa, directed by Sandro Pertini. Prolific historical writer, experienced journalist, he wrote several film plots^[2] and made numerous television programs, especially for RAI, the Italian main public service broadcaster. In his career as a journalist has interviewed some of the protagonists of the Second World War.^[1]

In 1957, Petacco married Lucetta De Martino with whom he had two daughters: Monica, who lives in Rome, and Carlotta, living in Milan. He is widowed since 1989. Since then he lives alone in Portovenere, near La Spezia.^[1]

In 1983, he won the Saint Vincent award for journalism and in 2006 received the Capo d'Orlando prize for journalism. Petacco died on 3 April 2018 of liver cancer at the age of 88.^[3][4]

• L'esodo: la tragedia negata degli italiani d'Istria, Dalmazia e Venezia Giulia. Milano, Mondadori, 1999.
• A tragedy revealed: the story of the Italian population of Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia, 1942–1956 Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2005.