Celebrity chef Antonio Carluccio, who helped popularize inexpensive Italian fare as the founder of an eponymous restaurant chain and a prolific cookbook writer, has died. He was 80. His death was announced on Carluccio's website, by the restaurant business on Twitter and by his agent on Wednesday. The cause was not immediately revealed.

Carluccio, who was born and raised in Italy, had restaurants in Britain, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates bearing his name. He also appeared in several television shows and wrote 22 cookbooks.