Roberto Calasso, Adelphi publisher and writer, dies at 80

Roberto Calasso, founder and director of Italian publishing house Adelphi, died in Milan on July 28-29, 2021, at age 80 after a long illness. On the day of his death, his final two novels were published: 'Memè Scianca' about his youth in Florence, and 'Bobi', a memoir of Roberto Bazlen. Born in Florence in 1941, Calasso studied English literature under Mario Praz. In 1962, he co-founded Adelphi with Luciano Foà and Roberto Bazlen, becoming editorial director in 1971, managing director in 1990, and president in 1999. He translated and introduced works by Nietzsche, Kafka, and others. From the 1980s, he wrote an eleven-volume literary work exceeding 4,000 pages, starting with 'La rovina di Kasch' (1983) and ending with 'La Tavoletta dei Destini' (2020). Internationally acclaimed, he was a visiting professor at Oxford in 2000, won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (1991), Prix Chateaubriand (2012), and was named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (2007). Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini called him a pillar of Italian publishing.