Unless you follow Italian news very closely, you may not have heard of a fierce debate on the statue of a journalist named Indro Montanelli.
Montanelli (1909-2001) worked for many years at Corriere della Sera; he then went on to found his own successful newspaper, Il Giornale, also based in Milan, which he walked out on after twenty years, aged 85, as Silvio Berlusconi – the publisher and then newly elected prime minister – tried to dictate a different editorial line. Montanelli thus returned to Corriere in 1995; for the next six years he produced a memorable daily column called “La stanza di Montanelli”. These stanzas are not exactly poetry, yet are revered as a paradigm of Italian journalism.
The toscanaccio – the brusque Tuscan – from Fucecchio, near Florence, was renowned for his very direct manners. He'd famously learned his trade in the US where he worked for the United Press. Short sentences, no big words or only when strictly necessary – straight to the point. Although many still haven't learned his fundamental lessons and keep drenching their styles in narcissism, Montanelli has at least had an impact on the way Italy's best journalists write.
