Umberto Simonetta (4 April 1926 – 25 August 1998) was an Italian playwright, writer and lyricist. He was described as "an unclassifiable artist" and "a wanderer between different genres".^[1]

Born in Milan, Simonetta grew up in Switzerland where his father had been forced to move as an anti-fascist.^[1]

He started his career working in couple with Guglielmo Zucconi as a radio writer and a playwright.^[1][2] He wrote several novels, some of them adapted into films such as Normal Young Man by Dino Risi and I viaggiatori della sera by Ugo Tognazzi.^[3] He directed the Teatro Gerolamo in Milan from 1979 until its close in 1983.^[1][2] As a lyricist, he often collaborated with Giorgio Gaber.^[1][2]

In his later years Simonetta collaborated with the newspaper Il Giornale as a theatrical critic and was one of the screenwriters of the sitcom Nonno Felice.^[2] He died of tumor.^[1]