L'Espresso

{{Infobox magazine

| logo = L'Espresso.svg

| image_file = L'espresso frontpage.jpeg

| image_size = 150px

| image_caption = {{lang|it|L'Espresso}}, 6 December 2007

| editor = Alessandro Mauro Rossi

| editor_title = Editor-in-Chief

| previous_editor = Arrigo Benedetti, Eugenio Scalfari, Daniela Hamaui, Bruno Manfellotto, Luigi Vicinanza, Tommaso Cerno

| frequency = Weekly

| circulation = 199,710 (2019)

| category = News magazine

| company = BFC Media

| founded = {{start date and age|1955}}

| country = Italy

| based = Rome

| language = Italian

| website = [http://espresso.repubblica.it/ espresso.repubblica.it]

| issn = 0423-4243

}}

{{lang|it|L'Espresso}} ({{IPA|it|leˈsprɛsso|lang}}) is an Italian progressive weekly news magazine.{{cite book|author=Kim Kavin|title=The Everything Travel Guide to Italy: A complete guide to Venice, Florence, Rome, and Capri - and all the breathtaking places in between|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jFKot04PLSkC&pg=PA404|access-date=14 December 2013|date=18 February 2010|publisher=Everything Books|isbn=978-1-4405-0180-7|page=404}} It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is the conservative magazine {{lang|it|Panorama}}. Since 2022, it has been published by BFC Media. From 7 August 2016 to 10 September 2023, it was published on Sundays in mandatory combination with the newspaper {{lang|it|la Repubblica}}.

History and profile

One of Italy's foremost news magazines, {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} was founded in Rome, Italy, as a weekly magazine in October 1955,{{Cite web |title=L'Espresso - News, inchieste e approfondimenti |url=https://lespresso.it/ |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=lespresso.it |language=it}}{{cite web|title=Products|publisher=Gruppo Espresso|access-date=15 December 2014|date=October 2014

|url=http://www.gruppoespresso.it/uploads/tx_cir/Pres_Inglese_GELE_ottobre14.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218211038/http://www.gruppoespresso.it/uploads/tx_cir/Pres_Inglese_GELE_ottobre14.pdf|archive-date=18 February 2015}}{{cite web|title=The most important Italian magazines

|url=http://www.lifeinitaly.com/culture/italian-magazines|publisher=Life in Italy|access-date=10 August 2014}} by the N.E.R. ({{lang|it|Nuove Edizioni Romane}}) publishing house of Carlo Caracciolo and the progressive industrialist Adriano Olivetti, manufacturer of Olivetti typewriters. Its chief editors were Arrigo Benedetti and Eugenio Scalfari.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100524024432/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5468738.ece Carlo Caracciolo: newspaper publisher who set up La Repubblica], The Times, 8 January 2009 {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} was characterized from the beginning by aggressive investigative journalism strongly focused on corruption and clientelism within the Christian Democracy ruling party of post-war Italy. In the 1950s, it uncovered major scandals in the health and housing industries. This made the main shareholder Olivetti unpopular with the ministries and large companies that were the primary customers of his main business. In 1956, with the magazine losing money, Olivetti gave a majority of shares to Caracciolo. De Benedetti and Scalfari entered as major shareholders as well.

The experienced De Benedetti, who had directed the news magazine {{lang|it|L'Europeo}} (1945–1954), was editor-in-chief until 1963, when he handed the position over to Scalfari. At the time the average circulation reached 70,000 copies.[http://www.gruppoespresso.it/gruppoesp/eng/chisiamo.jsp?idCategory=3509 History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124092438/http://www.gruppoespresso.it/gruppoesp/eng/chisiamo.jsp?idCategory=3509 |date=24 November 2009 }}, Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (Retrieved 30 January 2010) In 1968, Scalfari was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies (1968–1972) and handed over editorship to {{Interlanguage link multi|Gianni Corbi|it}}. The magazine's original format was that of large newspaper; it was converted into a small glossy format in 1974.{{cite book|editor=Gino Moliterno|title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Italian Culture|date=2005

|publisher=Routledge|location=London and New York|isbn=0-203-74849-2

|url=http://sociology.sunimc.net/htmledit/uploadfile/system/20100921/20100921021511436.pdf|access-date=10 January 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109142838/http://sociology.sunimc.net/htmledit/uploadfile/system/20100921/20100921021511436.pdf|archive-date=9 January 2015|df=dmy-all}} In 1965, it introduced colour printing for photos, text, and adverts. In 1975, the publishing company N.E.R. changed its corporate title to {{lang|it|Editoriale L'Espresso}}; circulation at the time exceeded 300,000 copies. In January 1976, the {{lang|it|Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso|italic=no}} also launched the daily newspaper {{lang|it|la Repubblica}}, with Scalfari as editor-in-chief, in a joint venture with Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.

In 1967, {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} revealed the attempted 1964 coup d'état by General {{ill|Giovanni de Lorenzo|it}} that became known as Piano Solo. In 1976, it conducted a strong campaign against the then Italian president Giovanni Leone for his alleged involvement in the Lockheed scandal. During the 1970s and 1980s, it strongly supported the campaigns for divorce and abortion. From the mid-1970s onwards, a fierce competition developed with Italy's other major news magazine, {{lang|it|Panorama}}, founded in 1962. The rivalry increased dramatically in the early 1990s, when Silvio Berlusconi—already controlling {{lang|it|Panorama}}—attempted to absorb {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} as well. The clash between Berlusconi and Carlo De Benedetti over the control of the Mondadori Group resulted in a break-up of assets, leading to the creation of the Espresso Group in its current form, with the CIR Group as majority shareholder.

Renowned journalists and writers who worked for {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} include Giorgio Bocca, Umberto Eco, Giampaolo Pansa, Enzo Biagi, Michele Serra, Marco Travaglio, Roberto Saviano, Naomi Klein, and Jeremy Rifkin. In 2002, Daniela Hamaui was appointed editor-in-chief of the weekly, becoming the first woman to hold the post.{{cite news|author=Anna Momigliano|title=In Italy, Female Editor Signals Women's Rise|date=16 September 2008

|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2008/0916/p07s02-woeu.html|access-date=13 January 2022|work=The Christian Science Monitor}} {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} is based in Rome but its business and finance newsroom is in Milan, now under {{lang|it|Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso|italic=no}} property. The editor is {{Interlanguage link multi|Bruno Manfellotto|it}}. {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} has a website with news and blogs. In May 2016, {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} set up a secure platform based on GlobaLeaks technology to collect testimonials about torture and human rights abuse from Egyptian whistleblowers, and to seek justice for Giulio Regeni and for every Regeni in Egypt.{{cite web|title=RegeniLeaks, exposing the lies of al Sisi's regime|url=http://espresso.repubblica.it/inchieste/2016/05/10/news/regenileaks-exposing-the-lies-of-al-sisi-s-regime-1.264699|date=16 May 2016|website=repubblica.it|access-date=14 April 2018}}

In November 2023, {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} joined with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, {{ill|Paper trail media|lt=Paper Trail Media|de}}, and 69 media partners including Distributed Denial of Secrets and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and more than 270 journalists in 55 countries and territories,{{Cite web |date=2023-11-14 |title=Inside Cyprus Confidential: The data-driven journalism that helped expose an island under Russian influence - ICIJ |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/leaked-data-journalism-methodology/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130214812/https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/leaked-data-journalism-methodology/ |archive-date=2023-11-30 |access-date=2023-12-24 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2023-11-14 |title=About the Cyprus Confidential investigation - ICIJ |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/about-cyprus-confidential-investigation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121093552/https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/about-cyprus-confidential-investigation/ |archive-date=2023-11-21 |access-date=2023-12-24 |language=en-US}} to produce the "Cyprus Confidential" report on the financial network which supports the regime of Vladimir Putin, mostly with connections to Cyprus, and showed Cyprus to have strong links with high-up figures in the Kremlin, some of whom have been sanctioned.{{cite news |date=15 November 2023 |title=Cyprus Confidential: Leaked Roman Abramovich documents raise fresh questions for Chelsea FC: ICIJ-led investigation reveals how Mediterranean island ignores Russian atrocities and western sanctions to cash in on Putin's oligarchs |language=en |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/2023/11/15/cyprus-confidential-leaked-roman-abramovich-documents-raise-fresh-questions-for-chelsea-fc/ |access-date=15 November 2023}}{{cite web |date=14 November 2023 |title=Cyprus Confidential - ICIJ |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/ |access-date=14 November 2023 |website=www.icij.org}} Government officials, including Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides,{{Cite web |date=2023-11-15 |title=Cypriot president pledges government probe into Cyprus Confidential revelations - ICIJ |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/cypriot-president-pledges-government-probe-into-cyprus-confidential-revelations/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214203142/https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/cypriot-president-pledges-government-probe-into-cyprus-confidential-revelations/ |archive-date=2023-12-14 |access-date=2023-12-24 |language=en-US}} as well as European lawmakers,{{Cite web |date=2023-11-23 |title=Lawmakers call for EU crackdown after ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential revelations|url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/lawmakers-call-for-eu-crackdown-after-icijs-cyprus-confidential-revelations/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224114123/https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/lawmakers-call-for-eu-crackdown-after-icijs-cyprus-confidential-revelations/ |archive-date=2023-12-24 |access-date=2023-12-24 |language=en-US|author-first1=Scilla|author-last1=Alecci|publisher= International Consortium of Investigative Journalists}} began responding to the investigation's findings in less than 24 hours,{{Cite web |date=2023-11-15 |title=Cypriot president pledges government probe into Cyprus Confidential revelations - ICIJ |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/cypriot-president-pledges-government-probe-into-cyprus-confidential-revelations/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214203142/https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/cypriot-president-pledges-government-probe-into-cyprus-confidential-revelations/ |archive-date=2023-12-14 |access-date=2023-12-24 |language=en-US}} calling for reforms and launching probes.{{Cite web |date=2023-11-14 |title=Cyprus ignores Russian atrocities, Western sanctions to shield vast wealth of Putin allies - ICIJ |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/cyprus-russia-eu-secrecy-tax-haven/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231214002320/https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/cyprus-russia-eu-secrecy-tax-haven/ |archive-date=2023-12-14 |access-date=2023-12-24 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Solutions |first=BDigital Web |title=Finance Minister perturbed over 'Cyprus Confidential' |url=https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/finance-minister-perturbed-over-cyprus-confidential |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224114126/https://knews.kathimerini.com.cy/en/news/finance-minister-perturbed-over-cyprus-confidential |archive-date=2023-12-24 |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=knews.com.cy}}

Open letter to {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} on the Pinelli case

The open letter to {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} on the Pinelli case, also mentioned as an appeal or manifesto against Commissioner Luigi Calabresi, is a document published on 13 June 1971 by the weekly {{lang|it|L'Espresso}}, with which numerous politicians, journalists, and intellectuals asked for the dismissal of some officials, believed to be the authors of serious omissions and negligence in ascertaining responsibility for the death of Giuseppe Pinelli, who fell from a window while he was in custody at the Milan police as part of the investigations into the Piazza Fontana bombing conducted by Commissioner Calabresi, who slanderously indicated him as responsible. On 10 June 1971, the letter was initially signed by ten signatories: Marino Berengo, Anna Maria Brizio, Elvio Fachinelli, Lucio Gambi, Giulio A. Maccacaro, Cesare Musatti, Enzo Paci, Carlo Salinari, Vladimiro Scatturin, and Mario Spinella. The open letter was published in the weekly {{lang|it|L'Espresso}} on 13 June 1971 on the sidelines of an article by Camilla Cederna entitled "Twists and turns of karate. The latest incredible developments of the Pinelli case". The title was inspired by the hypothesis, which emerged from some early rumors about the wounds found on Pinelli's body and supported by Lotta Continua headed by Adriano Sofri and other left-wing extra-parliamentary circles, that Pinelli's defenestration was caused by a karate blow. In the following weeks, from 20 to 27 June 1971, the letter was republished, with the support of 757 signatures which included Gae Aulenti, Marco Bellocchio, Bernardo Bertolucci, Tinto Brass, Liliana Cavani, Toni Negri, Eugenio Scalfari, and Oliviero Toscani.{{cite book|author=Roberto Bartalli|editor1=Anna Cento Bull|editor2=Adalgisa Giorgio|title=Speaking Out and Silencing. Culture, Society and Politics in Italy in the 1970s|year=2006|publisher=Legenda|location=Oxford|chapter=The Red Brigades and the Moro Kidnapping: Secrets and Lies|isbn=9781315087764|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315087764|doi=10.4324/9781315087764}}

Circulation

{{lang|it|L'Espresso}}'s circulation was 300,057 copies in 1984,{{cite web|author=Maria Teresa Crisci|title=Relationships between numbers of readers per copy and the characteristics of magazines|url=http://www.pdrf.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/196.pdf|work=The Print and Digital Research Forum|access-date=14 April 2015}} and rose to 400,334 copies in 2007,{{cite web|title=Dati ADS (tirature e vendite) |url=http://www.fotografi.org/periodici_tirature.htm#SETTIMANALI |work=Fotografi |access-date=26 April 2015 |language=it |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150424142426/http://www.fotografi.org/periodici_tirature.htm |archive-date=24 April 2015 }} making it the fourth best-selling news magazine in Italy.{{cite web|author=Anne Austin |display-authors=etal |title=Western Europe Market and Media Fact |url=http://conan.lib.muohio.edu/ebooks/Western_Europe_Market_MediaFact_2008/Western%20Europe%20Market%20&%20MediaFact%202008.pdf |work=Zenith Optimedia |access-date=10 April 2015 |date=2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205131709/http://conan.lib.muohio.edu/ebooks/Western_Europe_Market_MediaFact_2008/Western%20Europe%20Market%20%26%20MediaFact%202008.pdf |archive-date= 5 February 2015 }} It was 334,260 copies in 2010,{{cite web|title=World Magazine Trends 2010/2011 |url=http://www.revistas-ari.com/attachments/209_WMT_2010_2011_Europe.pdf |work=FIPP |access-date=2 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402165145/http://www.revistas-ari.com/attachments/209_WMT_2010_2011_Europe.pdf |archive-date= 2 April 2015 }} 239,000 in 2013, based on the report of the {{lang|it|Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso|italic=no}}, and 195,787 in June 2014.[http://www.primaonline.it/2014/08/08/189264/ Data] Accertamenti Diffusione Stampa

Editors

Arrigo Benedetti (1955–1963)
Eugenio Scalfari (1963–1968)
{{Interlanguage link multi|Gianni Corbi|it}} (1968–1970)
{{Interlanguage link multi|Livio Zanetti|it}} (1970–1984)
{{Interlanguage link multi|Giovanni Valentini (journalist)|it|3=Giovanni Valentini (giornalista)}} (1984–1991)
Claudio Rinaldi (1991–1999)
{{Interlanguage link multi|Giulio Anselmi|it}} (1999–2002)
Daniela Hamaui (2002–2010)
{{Interlanguage link multi|Bruno Manfellotto|it}} (2010–2014)
Luigi Vicinanza (2014–2016)
Tommaso Cerno (2016–2017)
Marco Damilano (2017–present)

Signatures

{{lang|it|L'Espresso}}'s past contributors have included such well-known journalists and columnists as Umberto Eco, Giampaolo Pansa, Giorgio Bocca, Enzo Biagi, {{Interlanguage link multi|Peter Gomez (writer)|it|Peter Gomez|lt=Peter Gomez}}, and Edmondo Berson. Its notable current contributors include Eugenio Scalfari, Michele Serra, {{Interlanguage link multi|Stefano Bartezzaghi|it}}, Marco Travaglio, {{Interlanguage link multi|Massimo Riva|it|3=Massimo Riva (giornalista)}}, {{Interlanguage link multi|Alessandro Gilioli|it}}, Massimo Cacciari, Alessandro Longo, Gianni Vattimo, Umberto Veronesi, Luigi Zingales, the Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister, the writer Roberto Saviano, and the economist Jeremy Rifkin.