e was one with politics, culture and tango. He had a sort of wonderment in his stare and he used to meet with friends at the Parakultural and the El Beso.

He was born in Villa Domínico in 1953. He was son of an Italian Republican and an Argentine from Flores, but he was a direct descendant of commitment. He used to be a discreet, quiet boy when one day the troubled country suddenly shocked him.

A colossal strength behind the transforming will was in Elvio Vitali’s blood. In his youth he was aware of politics and was a combative individual until he was forced to go into exile.

On his comeback, he founded the Ghandi bookshop; in the 90s he learnt to dance tango milonguero and then in the new century he directed the Biblioteca Nacional and later he was legislator in the city.

Among milongas, books and politics, he hardly slept in order to keep on dreaming. He created the Festival Internacional de Tango –which up to this day is held yearly–, discovered the singer Luis Cardei and generated the rules for the milongas porteñas, among other things.

He was, in all senses, a transformer, a cultural manager, as he liked to be called; but he was also the man who knew how to face differences with the simple, powerful equality granted by dancing embraces.