Umberto Eco, best known for the novel The Name of the Rose, was praised as "an outstanding example of a European intellectual" by the Italian prime minister following the writer's death on February 19, 2016, aged 84.

Eco, who died of cancer was praised by Italy's Matteo Renzi, who said, "Eco was an outstanding example of a European intellectual, a single intelligence with an untiring ability to anticipate the future. It’s a huge loss for culture, which will miss his writing and his voice, sharp and vivid thought and his humanity."

Eco was born on January 5, 1932, at Alessandria, in the northern Italian region of Piedmont. His father, Giulio Eco, was an accountant, before being drafted to fight in three wars.

As a teenager, Eco wrote comic books and fantasy novels before studying Medieval philosophy and literature at the University of Turin. His thesis was published in 1956 as The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas. During that period, Eco abandoned the Roman Catholic Church after a crisis of faith.

From 1956-1964 he worked as a cultural editor for television station RAI and became a lecturer at the University of Turin from 1956 to 1964.