Cino Del Duca (25 July 1899 – 24 May 1967) was an Italian-born businessman film producer and philanthropist who moved to France in 1923 where he made a fortune in the French publishing business.

Biography

Cino Del Duca Born in

Montedinove Montedinove is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Italian region Marche, located about south of Ancona and about north of Ascoli Piceno. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 566 and an area of .All dem ...

in the

Province of Ascoli Piceno The province of Ascoli Piceno ( it, Provincia di Ascoli Piceno) is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ascoli Piceno, and the province is bordered by the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Province of Fermo to the north ...

, Cino Del Duca played a major role in the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

during the

German occupation of France in World War II The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...

. His service to help liberate the country from the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s earned him the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

. Del Duca began with a small printing shop in Paris and eventually expanded into various publishing businesses. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he founded a weekly magazine ''Grand Hotel'' in 1947. He also established the ''Franc Tireur'' in 1949 and the ''Paris-Journal'' in 1957. Two years later he merged the two as the morning tabloid '' Paris-Jour'' that proved successful in a highly competitive, and at the time, overly saturated, Paris newspaper market.(Time magazine, 26 April 1963.)
/ref> He built a publishing empire in France anchored by a series of very successful magazines such as ''Nous Deux'', ''

Télé Poche ''Télé Poche'' (literally "Pocket TV") is a weekly television listings magazine published in France. History and profile Created by Franco-Italian editor Cino Del Duca, ''Télé Poche'' was launched on 12 January 1966 by Cora-Révillon's Mond ...

'' (founded 1966), ''Modes de Paris'', ''Les Editions mondiales'' and others. His companies published journals such as ''Hurrah!'' (1935–1953) and ''L'Aventureux'' (1936–1942) plus through his agency Mondial Presse he acquired the French language publishing rights to English language

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s and series such as

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

. As well, his

book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

company, Éditions Mondiales Del Duca, was also very successful. Under the name of World Editions, the New York company office founded the magazine ''Fascination'', that was a heavy loss, and in 1951 a famous digest-size

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

magazine, ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

''. In 1952 Del Duca established ''La Bourse Del Duca'' that awarded a medallion and a cash prize to support first-time authors. In 1954, Cino Del Duca entered the motion picture production business. Between then and 1962 he helped finance and produce eight feature films including 1960's acclaimed ''

L'avventura ''L'Avventura'' ( en, "The Adventure") is a 1960 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Developed from a story by Antonioni with co-writers Elio Bartolini and Tonino Guerra, the film is about the disappearance of a young woman ( ...

''. Cino Del Duca expanded his media empire into the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

, Great Britain, and his native Italy. His business successes earned him great wealth and he became a benefactor to a number of charitable causes. As a

hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing Sport, sports, or pursu ...

, he acquired a 55 hectare property at Biéville-Quétiéville in the

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples or pears, or from apples with pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norm ...

département in what is part of a large horse farm area of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Del Duca's Haras de Quétiéville racing

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

and

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation o ...

was a prominent part of

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

in France and in 1951 their

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

Prince Bio was the country's leading sire.

Significant investments in Italy

Cino Del Duca expanded his publishing business to Italy in 1951. His

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

book publishing company brought out works translated into the

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

from English, French and other notable writers such as

Romain Gary Romain Gary (; 2 December 1980), born Roman Kacew (, and also known by the pen name Émile Ajar), was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt under two names. He i ...

and

Elizabeth Peters Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 – August 8, 2013) was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the Univers ...

. With Gaetano Baldacci and

Enrico Mattei Enrico Mattei (; 29 April 1906 – 27 October 1962) was an Italian public administrator. After World War II he was given the task of dismantling the Italian petroleum agency Agip, a state enterprise established by the Fascist regime. I ...

, in April 1956 Cino Del Duca founded the '' Il Giorno ''newspaper in Milan. In 1955, he rescued the A.S. Ascoli

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team in

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; la, Asculum; dialetto ascolano: Ascule) is a town and ''comune'' in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is around 46,000 but the urban area of the city has more than 93,000. Geo ...

from bankruptcy. He built the

Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Duca Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Duca is a multi-purpose stadium in Ascoli Piceno, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and the home of Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. The stadium was built in 1962 and holds 12,461. History The stadium was ...

(stadium) in 1962 where the team still plays and which bears his name. The team carried the name "Del Duca Ascoli" until it was sold by his widow following his death in 1967.

Legacy

Cino Del Duca died in 1967 and was buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

in Paris. The ''Rue Cino Del Duca'' in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...

is named in his honor as is another street in the

17th arrondissement of Paris The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignoll ...

. His widow Simone used their great wealth to continue and expand their philanthropic works. In 1969 she established the

Prix mondial Cino Del Duca The Prix mondial Cino Del Duca (Cino Del Duca World Prize) is an international literary award. With an award amount of , it is among the richest literary prizes. Origins and operations It was established in 1969 in France by Simone Del Duca (191 ...

, an international

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

with a substantial cash prize. In 1975 she created the

Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation The Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation is a charitable foundation based in Paris, France. History It was established in 1975 by Simone Del Duca (1912–2004), widow of publishing magnate Cino Del Duca (1899–1967). The Foundation took over r ...

to oversee all the various charitable involvements. The Foundation became a significant patron of the

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

in France and a very important benefactor to

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...

ers worldwide.

Bourse Cino del Duca Laureates (non-exhaustive list)

* Jean-Luc Coatelem *

Régine Detambel Régine Detambel is a French writer. She was born in 1963. She published her first book in 1990, and has written prolifically ever since. Her works have been published primarily by Julliard, Le Seuil and Gallimard. She has won the Prix Anna de ...

Paul Fournel Paul Fournel (born 20 May 1947 in Saint-Étienne) is a French writer, poet, publisher, and cultural ambassador. He was educated at the École normale supérieure of Saint-Cloud (1968–1972). Fournel wrote his master's thesis on Raymond Queneau a ...

Charles Le Quintrec Charles Le Quintrec (14 March 1926 – 14 November 2008) was a French poet. He was born in Plescop and died in Lorient in Brittany. Le Quintrec was a literary critic for ''Ouest-France ''. Awards * Chevalier des Arts et Lettres * Officer of th ...

Hervé Le Tellier Hervé Le Tellier (born 21 April 1957) is a French writer and linguist, and a member of the international literary group Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle, which translates roughly as "workshop of potential literature"). He is its fou ...

* Jean-Marc Lovay * Gilles Paris * Henri Pigaillem

References

*
Fondation Simone et Cino Del Duca

{{DEFAULTSORT:Del Duca, Cino 1899 births 1967 deaths People from the Province of Ascoli Piceno French Resistance members 20th-century French newspaper publishers (people) French magazine publishers (people) Italian emigrants to France Italian newspaper founders Italian newspaper publishers (people) French film producers French racehorse owners and breeders Recipients of the Legion of Honour French philanthropists Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Del Duca family Comic book publishers (people) 20th-century philanthropists Italian magazine founders