Historian claims to have solved one of Italy's biggest literary mysteries

ROME -- An Italian historian claims he has solved of one of Italy's biggest literary mysteries: the true identity of author Elena Ferrante.

Ferrante's four Neapolitan novels have won worldwide acclaim, despite the pseudonym. The final title "The Story of The Lost Child" is a finalist for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize.

Italian writer and Dante expert Marco Santagata said in Corriere della Sera's literary insert Sunday that after a careful study of the texts, he ascertained that Ferrante is really Marcella Marmo, a Neapolitan professor who studied in Pisa.

Marmo, however, denied it.

"I thank all those who thought I was a happy best-seller writer, but as I tried to say in recent days, I am not Elena Ferrante," Marmo said in a statement carried by the ANSA news agency.