The celebrated Italian intellectual Umberto Eco, who shot to fame with his 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, has been remembered as a master of Italian culture following his death at the age of 84.
Eco died on Friday night after suffering from cancer, prompting tributes to pour in for the esteemed writer.
“[He was] an extraordinary example of a European intellectual, combining unique intelligence of the past with a limitless capacity to anticipate the future,” said Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi.
Through Eco’s academic writings and his bestselling books, he became a respected intellectual voice both in Italy and abroad.
