Italian playwright Dario Fo dies at 90

Italian playwright and actor Dario Fo has died at the age of 90, local media reported on Thursday.

Fo was one of the leading cultural figures in Italy, and in the European landscape, since coming to prominence in the 1970s.

His most famous works include "Accidental Death of an Anarchist," "Mistero Buffo", "We Can't Pay, We Won't Pay!"

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997.

Fo died in Milan on Thursday morning, after suffering from back pains for two weeks and being hospitalized, according to Ansa news agency.

"In Fo, Italy loses one of the great protagonists of the theater, culture, and civil life of our country," Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, expressing his condolences.

"His satire, the research, the work on set, his versatile artistic activity remain as the legacy of a great Italian in the world."

Fo began his career as an actor in the early 1950s, acting at the Piccolo Theatre in Milan, and soon began writing satirical cabarets.

He married actress Franca Rame, with whom he worked and wrote several renowned pieces.

Fo "emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden," the Nobel Committee wrote when it awarded him the prize in literature. Endit