A native of Milan, Donatella Barbieri Torriani, who holds a degree in Philosophy from the Università Cattolica di Milano, was very young when she joined Fabbri Editori to work as an assistant to the editorial manager.

At the start of the 1970s, she left Fabbri to concentrate on university research: she did freelance work for the Istituto Eurisko and took part in numerous study groups.

It was her brother Tiziano, who in 1970 took over Sperling & Kupfer, who brought her over to the publishing house. With her brother, Donatella embarked upon an extraordinary business adventure in the relaunch of Sperling and, subsequently, Frassinelli which was sold to Tiziano in 1980 by Luciano Foà, at the suggestion of Erich Linder.

After being general manager and managing director of Sperling & Kupfer SpA and chairman of the board of directors of Frassinelli, Donatella Barbieri Torriani left these publishing houses in 1988 to take over Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale from Erich Linder's son Dennis.

Since 2003 she has lectured at the Università di Urbino on the Master's for Editors course.

In 2008, Chiara Boroli acquired the majority shareholding in Ali. Donatella retains the remaining stake and continues to be head of the agency.

Chiara Boroli was born in Novara into a family of publishers, the daughter of Adolfo and niece of Achille Boroli, the architects behind the huge development of the Istituto Geografico De Agostini which the grandfather, Marco Boroli, had taken over together with a partner back in 1919.

She holds a decree in Modern Literature from the Università Statale di Milano and lives in Milan with her three children. She is director of external relations at De Agostini SpA and secretary general of the Fondazione De Agostini - established in 2007 with aims in the social, research and training fields - and a member of the board of directors of De Agostini, De Agostini Editore and UTET.

She is also a member of the board of directors of the Fondazione Mondadori - dedicated to preserving and bringing attention to Italy's publishing past - and a member of the scientific committee of the Fondazione Bellonci whose mission is to spread Italian literature in Italy and abroad.

In 2008, Chiara Boroli, who has an extensive knowledge of the publishing world and is a huge fan of books and literature, acquired the majority shareholding in Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale. Donatella Barbieri Torriani owns the remaining stake and continues to be head of the agency.