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 demog ...

in the

Province of Ascoli Piceno The province of 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, and it faces the regions ...

, Cino Del Duca played a major role in the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

during the

German occupation of France in World War II The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

. His service to help liberate the country from the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s earned him the

Croix de Guerre The (, ''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 awarded during World ...

. 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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'' (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 Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s and series such as

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a 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 adventurer. Creat ...

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

. As well, his

book publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

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

digest-size Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine, but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately . It is also a and format, similar to the size of a DVD case. These sizes evolved from the printing ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

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 Edi ...

''. 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'' () is a 1960 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 ( Lea Massari) during a boat ...

''. 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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

, 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 sports, or pursuing other ...

, he acquired a 55 hectare property at

Biéville-Quétiéville Biéville-Quétiéville () is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Belle Vie en Auge.Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples and/or pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norman distillation was ma ...

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

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

. Del Duca's Haras de Quétiéville racing

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

and

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

was a prominent part of

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, 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 bas ...

in France and in 1951 their

stallion A stallion is an adult 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, "cre ...

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 ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

book publishing company brought out works translated into the

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

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 twice (once under a ps ...

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 Universi ...

. 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 Fascist Italy. Instead, Ma ...

, 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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team in

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; ; ) is a (municipality) and capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Italy, Italian region of Marche. Geography The town lies at the confluence of the Tronto, River Tronto and the small Castellano (river), River Castell ...

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 association football, football matches and the home of Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. The stadium was built in 1962 and holds 12,461. Hi ...

(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 (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

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

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) 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. It is a luxu ...

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 Batignol ...

. 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 from France. With an award amount of , it is among the richest literary prizes. Origins and operations It was established in 1969 in France by French b ...

, an international

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

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 Foundation (charity), 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 ...

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

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

in France and a very important benefactor to

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

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 d ...

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 *

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

* 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 Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Del Duca family Comic book publishers (people) 20th-century French philanthropists Italian magazine founders