A decade after his death, Umberto Eco will be celebrated in Italy and around the world with a virtual marathon of cultural events.
This week the international cultural community will mark a decade since the death of the Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco, one of the most influential intellectuals of the 20th and 21st centuries.
To mark this milestone, the Fondazione Umberto Eco, in collaboration with the Fondazione Bottega Finzioni, has organised a unique commemorative project titled Eco Eco Eco: A World-Wide Talk for Umberto.
Departing from traditional, formal academic tributes, the event – scheduled for 18 and 19 February – is framed as a “planetary chat” designed to celebrate Eco’s living legacy through the voices of those who knew him.
The objective is to evoke the figure of Eco not just as a monumental scholar but as a teacher, colleague and friend, focusing on his wit, his insatiable curiosity and his profound humanity.
Worldwide dialogue
The digital initiative aims to connect scholars, writers and students across the globe, reflecting the universal reach of Eco’s work.
By utilising online streaming platforms, the foundation is facilitating a non-rhetorical dialogue that bridges continents, much like Eco’s own research into semiotics and communication.
The programme includes testimonials from international intellectuals who collaborated with Eco throughout his career, and rare glimpses into his personal archives and libraries, which are now under the stewardship of the foundation and the Italian culture ministry.
Instructional guidelines have been issued to allow people from different time zones to contribute to this collective memory, ensuring that “The Echo of the World” (L’Eco del mondo) continues to resonate.
As Italy and the world navigate a landscape increasingly dominated by digital information – a subject Eco famously analysed in his later years – the Eco Eco Eco event serves as a timely reminder of his enduring relevance in deciphering the complexities of modern communication.
A short biography
Umberto Eco was an Italian polymath whose work bridged the gap between high academia and popular culture.
Born in Alessandria in northern Italy in 1932, he became a defining figure in semiotics – the study of signs and symbols – serving as a longtime professor at the University of Bologna.
Eco achieved global literary stardom in 1980 with his debut novel, The Name of the Rose, a historical murder mystery that blended mediaeval theology with semiotic theory. He followed this success with other complex works such as Foucault’s Pendulum and The Prague Cemetery.
Beyond fiction, Eco was a prolific essayist and philosopher, known for his ability to analyse everything from James Bond to St Thomas Aquinas.
Throughout his life, he amassed a legendary personal library of over 30,000 volumes, embodying his belief that “libraries are the memory of humankind.”
He died in Milan on 19 February 2016, leaving behind a legacy that continues to influence the fields of philosophy, linguistics, and literature.
Photo credit: 360b / Shutterstock.com.
