Search Results - Montanelli, Indro, 1909-2001

Indro Montanelli

Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli (22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist, historian, and writer.

A volunteer for the Second Italo-Ethiopian War and an admirer of Benito Mussolini's dictatorship, Montanelli had a change of heart in 1943. He joined the liberal resistance group Giustizia e Libertà, but was discovered and arrested by Nazi authorities in 1944 along with his wife. Although sentenced to death, he was able to flee to Switzerland the day before his scheduled execution by firing squad, thanks to a secret service double agent.

After World War II, Montanelli continued his work at ''Corriere della Sera'', where he started working in 1938, and distinguished himself as a liberal-conservative communist for many decades. As an intransigent, anti-conformist, and anti-communist, he defended the idea of another political right, which was sober, cultured, pessimistic, and distrustful of mass society. In 1977, the Red Brigades terrorist group kneecapped him; years later, he forgave them. He was also a novelist and historian, especially remembered for his ''Storia d'Italia'' (''History of Italy'') in volumes.

After leaving the ''Corriere della Sera'' in 1973, due to a perceived turn to the left, Montanelli worked as the editor-in-chief of Silvio Berlusconi-owned newspaper ''il Giornale'' for many years. Being opposed to Berlusconi's political ambitions, he quit as editor of ''il Giornale'', and founded ''il Giornale nuovo'' in 1974. Berlusconi officially entered politics in 1994, after which he returned to the ''Corriere della Sera'' in 1995, and worked there until his death. Both the Italian centre-left and centre-right tried to reclaim his figure; the former, which overlooked his conservatism and anti-communism, emphasized his anti-Berlusconist militancy, while the latter, after having portrayed him as a useful idiot of the post-communist left, underplayed his opposition to Berlusconi. Provided by Wikipedia