Eugenio Scalfari, one of Italy’s most famous journalists, who rose to lasting fame as the founder of the liberal newspaper La Repubblica, the editorial that permeated the nation’s public life and on the high walls of the Vatican, died Thursday in Rome. He is 98 years old.
His death is published by La Repubblica.
During his two decades as La Repubblica’s top editor, Scalfari oversaw investigative reports packaged in tabloid form that critics say matched the nation’s thirst for what what the Italians call “diet”, secret stories are considered to promote civil events and deals on the dinner table and in evening strolls around the square. After his term as editor ended in 1996, he remained associated with La Repubblica as a columnist.
Scalfari’s prominence was such that, when his death became known to the public, lawmakers interrupted an official debate to keep a minute’s silence in his honor. Contributions from friends as well as enemies.
One of those tributes comes from Silvio Berlusconi, the one-time prime minister and media mogul that Scalfari has accused of creating a major conflict of interest between his rise to power and his labyrinthine business empire.
“Eugenio Scalfari is a reference point for my political enemies,” Berlusconi said on Twitter. “However, to this day, I cannot help but acknowledge that he was a great publisher and journalist whom I have always appreciated for his dedication and passion for his work. me”.
And on Thursday, even in the midst of a bitter political crisis, Prime Minister Mario Draghi described the editorials written by Mr Scalfari as “basic reading for those who want to understand politics and economics”.
In the last years of his life, Mr. Scalfari, an atheist, embarked on a series of discussions with Pope Francis, whom he called a “revolutionary”, and delivered sensational narratives. about discussions with which the Vatican sometimes disagrees. He did not take notes or use recording equipment, so his articles relied on his memory of the encounters to confirm their authenticity – and was often disputed.
For example, in 2018, Scalfari asserted in an article for La Repubblica that the pope had told him that hell did not exist, contrary to Catholic dogma. He said he and Pope Francis discussed the question of where “bad souls” go after death, and how they can be punished.
“They are not punished,” the pope said. Those who repent will receive God’s forgiveness and stand in the ranks of His admirers, but those who do not repent and cannot be forgiven will disappear. A hell does not exist; the disappearance of sinful souls exists. “
The Vatican responded by saying that Scalfari’s article was “the fruit of his reconstruction” and did not represent a “faithful copy of the words of the Holy Father.”
On Thursday, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope had learned “sadness over the passing of his friend” and was “appreciated with the commemorative sentiments of the meetings – and the words of wisdom.” asked deeply about the last questions of humanity – which he had. had with him over the years.”
Longtime readers say the tabloid format and war-provoking headlines of La Repubblica, founded in 1976, introduced a new style of journalism suited to the changing times in public life. Italy, loosening the grip of traditional post-war political parties amid a pile of corruption scandals. Ezio Mauro, who succeeded Scalfari as editor in 1996, said he had “revolutionized the way the Italian press existed”.
La Repubblica became the country’s second-largest newspaper after the Corriere della Sera – and briefly, in December 1986, the best-selling newspaper. During the 1990s, it competed with rivals to document a series of re-investigation known as “mani pulite” (“clean hands”), which discredited much of the elite. post-war political flowers.
In his youth, according to La Repubblica, Scalfari shared the passion of many young people drawn to the imperial Roman myth of Italian Fascism under Benito Mussolini. However, during the Second World War, he was rejected by the Fascists themselves after writing a critical article and moving to the left.
Years later, when far-right figures seemed to be on the rise in the Berlusconi era, he rejected the notion that Fascism could be revived in Italy. He told the British newspaper The Independent in 1994: “Fascism is unthinkable in Italy today.
“But,” he added, “they can cause social tensions so acute that they can create a risky situation.”
Eugenio Scalfari was born on April 6, 1924, in Civitavecchia, a port city north of Rome. As a child, his family moved to Sanremo, near the French border, where he began a lifelong friendship with Italian author Italo Calvino, a classmate.
He was married twice, first in 1950, to Simonetta de Benedetti, who died in 2006 and he has two daughters, Enrica and Donata Scalfari. His second wife was Serena Rossetti. Information on survivors was not immediately available.
In the immediate post-war period, Scalfari studied law and wrote for popular magazines such as Il Mondo and L’Europeo. He co-founded L’Espresso magazine in 1955 and became its top editor in 1963.
In 1967, L’Espresso hit the headlines when it revealed an attempted coup in 1964 by an Italian general.
The owners of L’Espresso and others founded La Repubblica in 1976, with Mr. Scalfari as editor-in-chief.
In the pre-internet era, the popular newsstands in Italy were always bloated with rival publications jostling each other for a share of the national audience. As is the case with other countries, many of them are affiliated with big companies or political parties, including the Italian Communist Party, once known as the largest group in the West.
Under Mr Scalfari, La Repubblica suggested that Italians should embark on a reassessment of the Communist Party, which had long been supported by the Soviet Union and was eventually dissolved in 1991.
While many publications take partisan positions in Italy’s troubled and tumultuous politics, Scalfari also plays a more direct role, serving as a Socialist affiliated lawmaker from the 1968 to 1972. In 1955, he was one of the founders of the smaller Radical Party.
His time as a journalist coincided with some of the most tumultuous and bloody days in Italy’s post-war history, marked by left and right political violence as well as a perennial battle with organized crime. authorities, including the Sicilian Mafia.
