The renowned Italian writer and intellectual, Antonio Tabucchi, who was so fond of Portuguese that he confessed to dreaming in the language, died in Lisbon on Sunday, 25 March.

“I believe Portuguese literature has lost a great writer and he was as Portuguese as he was Italian,” said his former publisher Zita Seabra.

Born in Pisa, Italy, he spent much of his later life in Lisbon and was not only a specialist on and translator of Fernando Pessoa but his own works were strongly influenced by the Portuguese great.

Among his most famous works are “Afirma Pereira” and “Requiem” with Tabucchi picking up a number of literary awards as well as constantly rumored to be short-listed for the Nobel Prize.

A regular contributor to Italian, French and Spanish newspapers, Antonio Tabucchi stood out as a cosmopolitan campaigner, against xenophobia and prejudice and a fierce critic of the government of Silvio Berlusconi.

(Photograph: Toni Albir/EPA/Lusa)