Eugenio Scalfari died at the age of 98. AFP photo.
The founder of the influential newspaper La Repubblica, Eugenio Scalfariconsidered one of the great companies of Italian journalism, she died this Thursday at the age of 98, the left-wing newspaper announced.
Known for his virulent opposition to Silvio Berlusconi, for his economic notes and for his editorials, Scalfari founded La Repubblica in 1976, a newspaper he ran for 20 years, becoming one of the most important media in Italy.
He had been part of the group that in 1955 had launched the magazine L’Espresso, famous for its inquiries and reports around the world.
After a long journalistic career, he devoted himself to writing books in which he addressed philosophical issues, including one with his philosophical talks with Pope Francis, with whom he met several times.
Eugenio Scalfari revolutionized Italian journalism with the launch of La Reppublica. AP photo.
La Reppublica, his newspaper, fired him with an obituary at his height. A text that reads like the beginning of the novel of a life that has marked many. She says: “Finally she has arrived, the Queen has touched her slender and very fragile body. And she did not let herself be taken aback. Few have been able to welcome death with such vitality as Eugenio Scalfari. Until the last days, before falling into a sort of lethargy, I was attentive to his mental landscape which took on different depths and colors “.
“And until the end he continued to be a journalist, a curious chronicler who told us about his ancestral journey on a planet unknown to us”.Are you afraid of death, dad? ‘ask his daughters, Enrica and Donata, in the latest splendid documentary Viaje Sentimental. The gaze becomes serene, as if her firm no was not necessary. You’re dying, she said. Wanting to write. Wanting to love Wanting to always be in the contradictions of the world, “she continues.
The news of Scalfari’s death has had repercussions throughout Italy. Pope Francis lamented his departure.
«Pope Francis learned with pain of the death of his friend Eugenio Scalfari. He cherishes with affection the memory of the meetings – and of the intense talks on the latest human issues – that he had with him over the years and recommends his soul in the Lord’s prayer, so that he may welcome and comfort those who were close to him “, was the message that the Vatican has allowed to transcend.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi paid tribute in a statement to “an absolute protagonist in the history of journalism in post-war Italy”, he underlined. “His editorials about him were essential reading for anyone who wanted to understand politics and economics,” he added.
The house of the Republic.
Culture Minister Dario Franceschini, exponent of the Democratic Party (PD, center-left), praised “an example of journalism and an intellectual who with his work has marked the history of republican Italy”.
Author of about thirty books, including the one on dialogues with Francisco, published in 2013, he briefly ventured into politics after being elected deputy in 1968 for the socialist party.
Born in Civitavecchia, in the province of Rome, on April 6, 1924, of Calabrian parents, Eugenio Scalfari was an officer of the Legion of Honor.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
