Il Giornale d’Italia turns 120 years old and restarts from digital

The Giornale d’Italia celebrates 120 years. Founded in 1901 by Sidney Sonnino and Antonio Salandra, under the direction of Alberto Bergamini, who came from Corriere della Sera, born only 25 years earlier (1876), the liberal vision has characterized the editorial line. Now the historic newspaper is renewed looking to the future and presenting itself to the general public in a digital version with extensive, complete and entirely free information (www.ilgiornaleditalia.it). Bergamini clearly expressed the line to follow in the first issue, released on November 16, 1901: “We will work to reconcile souls, to revive the feelings of solidarity among all the city orders, to raise the moral and economic conditions of the most disadvantaged classes, from on which the future of Italy largely depends “(Year I, n ° 1, November 16-17, 1901”. From that moment on, the newspaper has been describing Italy for over a century, two world wars and related postwar , dark and crisis periods and phases of rebirth. “We are aware that Il Giornale d’Italia represents an inestimable historical and cultural heritage, an important witness to the history of our country and with a fundamental role for its future – underlines Gabriella Greco. company administrator – The challenge is to trace a clear course following the values ​​of the past to reconcile them with the profound transformations taking place. We work for quality, completeness and ind dependence on the news, for the understanding of facts and phenomena, for freedoms in the plural, as explained by Benedetto Croce in the columns of Il Giornale d’Italia. Accessibility and inclusion are two fundamental themes for us because our greatest mission is to represent all categories and even controversial positions; in fact, in our DNA, which rejects any political interference, there will always be a longing for freedom, in the wake of the line drawn by Bergamini, first editor of Il Giornale d’Italia ”. Numerous editorialists have enriched the information and strength of Il Giornale d’Italia, from Benedetto Croce to Luigi Pirandello, from Giovanni Pascoli to Antonio Fogazzaro, Vilfredo Pareto and Gabriele D’Annunzio. It is with Gabriele D’Annunzio that Il Giornale d’Italia on 11 December 1901 invented the so-called “Terza Pagina”, positioned after those of politics and news. Page that Alberto Bergamini dedicated to the first theatrical performance of Francesca da Rimini, by Gabriele D’Annunzio, interpreted by Eleonora Duse. Since then it has characterized the tradition of Italian cultural journalism. Il Giornale d’Italia celebrated its 120th anniversary with an event at Palazzo Visconti in Milan, which retraced, through the pages of one of the first Italian newspapers, some of the most significant and important stages in the history of our country. Among the various interventions, those of Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan, Luciano Fontana, Director of Corriere della Sera and Sergio Luciano, Director of Economy. “The story of Il Giornale d’Italia has been one of professionalism and the search for truth”. A path “which I am sure will follow today as well”, said Sala, who concluded: “I therefore want to wish you all the best wishes for one hundred and twenty years of commitment. Above all I want to wish you to do journalism with the same passion and seriousness that you have shown. “” Today we are celebrating 120 years of a newspaper that has played a fundamental role in the history of Italy. I would like to start with a quote that concerns me and that concerns the founder of Corriere della Sera 25 years earlier – said Fontana speaking on the theme ‘The role and history of information from Bergamini to today’ – I say this because the history of Bergamini is intertwined in an incredible way with that of Corriere della Sera, especially as regards the spirit, the idea of ​​society, journalism and serious and courteous civil relations of the public debate that all those newspapers interpret. The first editor of Corriere della Sera writes in the first issue: ‘We want a a newspaper that does not look at the face of either those who are above or who are below. We want to be objective and we want to have a spirit of criticism, especially towards friends “. it is an incredible way of conceiving the information that Alberto Bergamini takes up almost completely in the Giornale d’Italia. Let’s start with some elements of history that make it clear what a different world it was. Bergamini becomes director of the Giornale d’Italia at 30, now if all goes well we are on the second or third contract of co.co.co. He was an important journalist for Corriere della Sera, he was the executive secretary, therefore the link between the director and all the journalists. At one point Albertini himself, who was the editor who made Corriere della Sera great, decided to suggest it to Sonnino and Salandra who were trying to found this new newspaper in Rome that would interpret the liberal spirit of the company. Albertini advised them Bergamini very reluctantly even though he liked the idea that something similar could be born in Rome in the spirit of Corriere della Sera. Bergamini took over Il Giornale d’Italia and became a formidable competitor of the Corriere della Sera, surpassing all the Roman newspapers. He is a person completely dedicated to his work. What I like to remember is that director who from morning to evening spent his days looking for news, meeting people, giving instructions and courage to his editors “. Sergio Luciano, Director of Economy spoke on the theme “The challenge of liberal and independent information”: “In my opinion, the profession of journalism, that is, the thing for which if you write a fool you answer for it, is important for democracy. The total irresponsibility of today’s mass media, that is social media, is a subversive irresponsibility. Anyone can publish any nonsense without taking responsibility. It is an incredible anomaly. When we talk about journalism and the publishing crisis, we are actually talking about the crisis of democracy. So I say a banality: let’s subject social media to the rules of the traditional media press in force today in all civilized countries. That is enough and everything is normalized, a market and electorate space is recreated that demands certainty and responsibility. In this way I know who wrote what, I know who to blame if he wrote a nonsense, if he insults someone or if he gets in the way of democracy. This is the summary. This would think Benedetto Croce on social media. I think we will have a few more years of suffering, then everything will return to normal “. Federico Silvestri, General Manager of Il Sole 24 Ore Spa System on the theme” The value of the Brand and the Target “on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of Il Giornale d’Italia : “We of the 24 Ore Group are here to express our support for this beautiful entrepreneurial adventure, a courageous adventure. Today, starting an editorial business means having courage, being bearers of important values. We have chosen to accompany this initiative because we consider it to be of quality and also well thought out. It is an extraordinary, historical brand with 120 years of history. But in addition to the brand, you need substance. We believe, as has already been shown, that Il Giornale d’Italia does journalism with a capital G “. The event saw the participation of numerous personalities from the institutional, political, economic and social world as well as entrepreneurs, managers and communicators of ‘agency.