Rome - Italian author Giorgio Bettinelli, who clocked up hundreds of thousands of kilometres travelling the globe on a Vespa scooter and then recounting his adventures in books, has died in China. He was 53.

Bettinelli who together with his wife had been living in southern China since 2004, died on Monday, a spokeswoman for his publisher, Milan-based Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore said Wednesday.