Umberto Eco was born on 5 January 1932 in Alessandria, a small town in the Piedmont region of Italy. He started studying Law at the University of Torino, but soon dropped out and, against his father's will, enroled on a medieval philosophy and literature course. He earned his doctorate in philosophy in 1954 and then entered the world of journalism, working for the state-owned television network RAI.

His first book, "Il problema estetico in San Tommaso" - an extension of his thesis, was published in 1959. After having lost his job at RAI, he became senior editor for Bompiani in 1959, where he stayed until 1975. The next years of his life were spent lecturing, writing for several major newspapers ("La Stampa", "Corriere della sera", etc.) and developing his theories on semiotics. He published many books on the subject throughout the 1970's.

He started writing "Il nome della rosa" ("The Name of the Rose"), a story set in the Middle Ages, in 1978. It was published in 1980 to almost immediate critical acclaim. The publishing house had originally thought they would sell approximately 30,000 copies, but over 9 million have been sold to date. A film was also released in 1986. Eco, wondering whether he would be capable of writing another novel, published "Il Pendolo di Foucault" (Foucault's Pendulum") in 1988, followed by "L'isola del giorno prima" ("The Island of the Day Before") in 1994, and "Baudolino" in 2000.

He is still a professor at the University of Bologna and lives between Bologna, Milano and Rimini with his wife, Remate Ramge, whom he married in 1962.