The Eco Family, the Umberto Eco Foundation, and the Bottega Finzioni Foundation announce a global web marathon for the tenth anniversary of his passing. The initiative has been welcomed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is promoted through the network of Italian Cultural Institutes worldwide.
ECO ECO ECO
A world-wide talk for Umberto
February 18 | 6:00AM EST
to
February 19 | 6:00AM EST
CLICK HERE ON FEBRUARY 18 @ 6:00AM EST TO WATCH THE BROADCAST
Ten years after the passing of Umberto Eco, the Eco Family, the Umberto Eco Foundation, and the Bottega Finzioni Foundation jointly announce an unprecedented global event: Eco Eco Eco – A world-wide talk for Umberto. This 24-hour non-stop digital marathon marks the end of the ten years of silence requested by Eco. It will transform the Professor’s memory into a collective dialogue, inviting his immense community of readers and scholars for the first time to participate alongside the greatest names in international culture.
The event will be broadcast live via streaming on the YouTube channels of the Umberto Eco Foundation and the Bottega Finzioni ETS Foundation, beginning at 12:00 PM (CET) on February 18. At that exact moment, as midnight strikes, February 19th will first dawn on the planet in the Kiribati archipelago and the Fiji Islands. The live broadcast will symbolically begin from the island of Taveuni (Fiji), which is crossed by the 180th meridian. It was here that Umberto Eco traveled to work on his famous novel, The Island of the Day Before, where the International Date Line allows one to “time travel” between yesterday and today. The Marathon will conclude at 12:00 PM (CET) on February 19, 2026.
Canadian contributions to the marathon include remarks by three distinguished scholars: Dr. Marcel Danesi (Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto); Dr. Diana Iuele-Colilli (Laurentian University, Sudbury ON); and Dr. Donato Santeramo (Queen’s University, Kingston ON).
A 24-Hour Journey Around the World The marathon is designed to embrace the entire globe, moving symbolically from East to West. Crossing all time zones, the broadcast will give a voice to every country touched by Umberto Eco’s influence: from Asian universities to European ones, and across the Americas, covering the full scope of a thought that spoke every language.
BECOME PART OF THE STORY
The Umberto Eco Foundation states: “Become part of the story. For the tenth anniversary of Umberto Eco’s passing, we have envisioned a dialogue that knows no borders. We invite everyone – readers, students, friends, or the simply curious – to join this mosaic of memories by sending us a video tribute to marathon@fondazioneumbertoeco.org. We want his ‘Open Work’ to continue living through voices from every part of the world.”
Due to the high volume of participants expected, video contributions that cannot be accommodated in the live broadcast will be archived in the official documentation of the Umberto Eco Foundation, which will manage their visibility on its website.
