Luciano Foà was born in Milan in 1915. At the age of 18, he started to work with his father Augusto at Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale's offices at Corso del Littorio and in 1937 he graduated in Law. It was in that year that he met Roberto Bazlen, a key figure in the personal and professional life of Foà.

In 1941, at the suggestion of Bazlen, Luciano was appointed by Adriano Olivetti to coordinate the plan for a new publishing house with an extensive portfolio of titles open to the most modern examples of European culture: Nuova Edizioni Ivrea. Part of this plan - its most extremely political and sociological component - gave rise after the war to Edizioni di Comunità.

Initially Luciano remained in Milan, where he divided his time between NEI and Ali, but after the 1942 bombardments, he moved to Ivrea, where he stayed for a few months at the home of Adriano Olivetti, with whom he had forged a friendship and for whom he had the greatest respect. After the Italian surrender to the allies on 8 September 1943, it was Olivetti, hearing news of an imminent arrest by the Germans, who helped Luciano and his father to Switzerland where they remained until the end of the conflict.

In Switzerland, Luciano came into contact with many exiles, including Luigi Einaudi, Giorgio Fuà and Alberto Zevi. With the latter he made publishing plans for the future and in the meanwhile translated Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls, one of the very few translations signed in his own name rather than with a pseudonym.

After the war, Augusto started to detach himself gradually from Ali's work (and died suddenly in 1948) but Luciano found great help in the young Erich Linder who had already approached Ali in search of translations during the first few years of the conflict and whom Foà had wanted in Ivrea for editorial work.

In 1950, he married Mimmina Schiralli and had two children, Augusto and Anna. In 1951, he moved to Turin at the request of Giulio Einaudi to take the role of secretary general of the publishing house, immediately after the death of Cesare Pavese. Before leaving, Luciano handed over management of the agency to Linder.

He returned to Milan in 1961 to undertake a project that he had been entertaining for a long time: to set up a publishing house. Thus, in 1962, he joined forces with Roberto Olivetti, son of Adriano, Alberto Zevi and Roberto Bazlen to create Adelphi to which he dedicated all of his energy but did not nevertheless forget about Ali. For over 20 years, he held regular meetings with Linder through which he was able to continue to monitor the work of the agency.

He died in Milan in January 2005.