Italy's renowned author Gianni Celati dies at age of 84 - reports

Italian writer and translator Gianni Celati has died at the age of 84, according to media reports.

A friend of the author confirmed this to Italy's Adnkronos news agency on Monday.

Celati died on Monday night near the southern English coastal city of Brighton, his adopted home since 1989.

Born in northern Italy, he had been ill for some time.

Italy's Culture Minister Dario Franceschini spoke of the loss of a "great intellectual of the 20th century."

"It is a sad day for literature and our country, which also loses an attentive observer who knew how to narrate the lesser known and offside Italy in simplicity," the minister went on to say of the critic.

Born in Sondrio in 1937, Celati translated works by Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain and Roland Barthes into Italian.

In 1971, he made his debut in the Italian literary world with his novel "Comiche."

Celati held a professorship in English and American literature at the University of Bologna in the 1970s.

His works translated into English include the titles "Adventures in Africa," "Appearances" and "Voices from the Plains."