Journalist, writer and pioneering TV talk show host Maurizio Costanzo has died at the age of 84, his press office said Friday.

The Maurizio Costanzo Show on Silvio Berlusoni's Mediaset network was a hit for years and made a star of Costanzo, a penetrating interviewer and caustic and quick-witted commentator.

Costanzo came from the world of print journalism, and was also a film and TV screenwriter. His campaigns were legion and one against the mafia almost got him killed by a Cosa Nostra bomb in 1993.

He survived the attack and doubled down on his fight against the Mob.