Scritti Giornalistici

Giovanni Spadolini s relationship with the weekly Epoca dates back to its foundation in October 1950. After becoming the chief editor of Bologna s historic daily Il Resto del Carlino in 1955, he continued to contribute to Epoca, with a column entitled Il taccuino di Giovanni Spadolini ( Giovanni Spadolini s notebook ) from 1972 to 1976. Between the two periods of his collaboration with Epoca, Spadolini moved from the Resto del Carlino to the chief editorship of the Corriere della Sera (1968-1972) until his election to the Senate as an independent on the PRI slate, at the invitation of Ugo La Malfa. In his Taccuino columns and other contributions to Epoca collected in the appendix to this volume, Spadolini cast a critical eye on developments in Italy, fully aware of the complexity and difficulties of his country s situation. Indeed, he was so deeply concerned that his articles avoid both the narrative stereotypes so typical of Italian journalists, and the bare description of the facts and people about whom he writes. As a journalist in the Senate, he stayed true to his role as historian of the present that characterized him from the outset telling a story, engaging in an argument, raising questions, and challenging the reader. These texts also show Spadolini as a man of culture, who, in his encounters with leading personalities, succeeded in capturing the atmosphere, eloquent silences, tensions, and feelings. He offers examples of journalism at its best: sober yet dense and hard-hitting. Spadolini s political reflections in Epoca are the consummate expression of a man who saw writing as a means of paying homage to politics and academia in other words, to Italian civic life. Introduction by Cosimo Ceccuti.