Influences and themes thumb|Collège de 'Pataphysique, stamp of Satrap Umberto Eco. By Jean-Max Albert Rt, 2001A group of avant-garde artists, painters, musicians and writers, whom he had befriended at RAI, the Neoavanguardia or Gruppo '63, became an important and influential component in Eco's writing career.
Influences and themes thumb|Collège de 'Pataphysique, stamp of Satrap Umberto Eco. By Jean-Max Albert Rt, 2001A group of avant-garde artists, painters, musicians and writers, whom he had befriended at RAI, the Neoavanguardia or Gruppo '63, became an important and influential component in Eco's writin.g career