Italian publisher Roberto Calasso dies at 80

ROME — Roberto Calasso, a towering figure in European publishing as the driving force behind an esteemed Milan-based publisher, as well as an inquisitive and prolific author himself, has died at 80, his company said.

Italian news media, quoting his publishing house Adelphi, said Calasso died Thursday in Milan following a long illness and a wake was held Friday in the publishing house’s Milan headquarters.

Directing Adelphi since 1971 and being its chairman since 1999, Calasso adhered to the philosophy choosing books to publish not on how they might sell but on whether they had something important to say.

A native of Florence, who grew up with parents steeped in the classics, Calasso also wrote his own books, using a fountain pen for all but the final draft. His 1988 “Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony,” a readable, imaginative exploration of Greek mythology, was his best-known work.