He was an Italian architect and engineer, and a noted art critic, art historian and novelist. As a novelist Boito wrote several collections of short stories, including a psychological horror short story titled "A Christmas Eve", a tale of incestuous obsession and necrophilia, which bears a striking similarity to Edgar Allan Poe's "Berenice." A short film adaptation is due for release in 2011.Around 1882 he wrote his most famous novella, Senso, a disturbing tale of sexual decadence. In 1954, Senso was memorably adapted for the screen by Italian director Luchino Visconti and then, later, in 2002 into a more sexually disturbing adaptation by Tinto Brass.Another story, "Un Corpo" (also dealing with themes of sexual decadence and necrophilia), has recently been adapted into an opera by the Greek composer Kharálampos Goyós.