Italian writer Umberto Eco dies

Italian author Umberto Eco, a philosopher who wrote best-selling novels including "The Name of the Rose," has died at 84, Italian media said Saturday, quoting his family.

Eco, who had been suffering from cancer, passed away at his home at 9:30pm (2030 GMT) on Friday, La Repubblica said on its website.

"The world has lost one of the most important men in contemporary culture," the daily said.

"Umberto Eco, one of Italy's most celebrated intellectuals, is dead," said the Corriere della Sera.

Eco was born on January 5, 1932, at Alessandria in the northern Italian region of Piedmont.

His family name was reportedly an acronym of the Latin ex caelis oblatus, "a gift from the heavens", which was given to his grandfather, a founding father, by a city official.

The young Umberto had a Roman Catholic upbringing, being educated at one of the Salesian institution's schools.

His father was very keen for him to read law, but instead he took up medieval philosophy and literature at the University of Turin.

In the late 1950s, he started to develop ideas on semiotics -- the study of signs, communicated either as spoken, written, scientific or artistic language.

Eco was appointed professor of semiotics at Bologna University in the 1970s and published a treatise laying out his theories.

His breakthrough, to a far wider audience, came in 1980 with the success of novel "The Name of the Rose," which has since been translated into 43 languages and sold millions of copies.