Oberto Airaudi

{{Short description|Italian painter (1950–2013)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Oberto Airaudi

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1950|5|29}}

| birth_place = Balangero, Italy

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|6|24|1950|5|29}}

| death_place = Aval (Cuceglio), Italy

| nationality = Italian

| other_names = Falco (Hawk)

| occupation = Cult leader, founder of Federation of Damanhur, former insurance agent

| known_for = Founding the Federation of Damanhur, directing the construction of the Temples of Humankind

| organizations = Federation of Damanhur

| years_active = 1975–2013

}}

Oberto Airaudi (29 May 1950 – 24 June 2013){{cite news|title=Morto Falco Oberto Airaudi, fondatore di Damanhur "Morto Falco Oberto Airaudi, il fondatore della federazione di Damanhur|url=http://www.torinotoday.it/cronaca/morto-falco-oberto-airaudi-damanhur.html|access-date=18 December 2015|work=Torino Today|date=25 June 2013|language=it}} was an Italian cultist, who founded the Federation of Damanhur. Airaudi also went by the name of Falco (Hawk), based on the Damanhur practice of adopting animal names. He was born in Balangero, near Turin, Italy.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

In 1975, Airaudi and a group of about 25 other people founded the Federation of Damanhur, a New Age commune and eco-village. Beginning in 1978, Airaudi directed construction of the underground facility the Temples of Humankind. Initially in secret, the Temples became public knowledge in 1992, when a former member sued to regain his possessions from the group. Prior to founding the community, he had worked as an insurance agent.{{cite news|last1=Stanley|first1=Alessandra|title=Baldissero Canavese Journal; New-Age Commune Is Into Crafts and Time Travel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/26/world/baldissero-canavese-journal-new-age-commune-is-into-crafts-and-time-travel.html|access-date=18 December 2015|work=The New York Times|date=26 July 2000}}

Airaudi died in the Damanhur community of Aval (Cuceglio) of colon cancer after it metastasized to his liver.{{Cite journal |last=Zoccatelli |first=PierLuigi |date=2016 |title=“All the Heavens in your Hands”: Oberto Airaudi and the Art of Damanhur |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26418552 |journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=145–162 |issn=1092-6690}}