Arrigo Levi (17 July 1926 – 24 August 2020) was an Italian journalist, essayist, and television

anchorman A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

Life

Exile to Argentina

Levi was from a family of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent (his father Enzo was a renowned lawyer in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

). In 1938, when he was twelve he moved to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

with his family in order to escape Fascist persecution. In

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

he completed his studies and in 1943 he began his career in journalism, as the director of '' Italia libera (Free Italy)''.

Career

After the war he left

and returned to Modena with his family, just in time to take part in the national referendum, on June 2, 1946, for the Italians to choose between Monarchy and Republic. At twenty, he continued his journalism career in Modena and managed the newspaper ''

Gazzetta di Modena ''Gazzetta di Modena'' is a morning daily newspaper that serves the city of Modena and its similarly named province in Italy. History and profile ''Gazzetta di Modena'' was established in 1981. It is part of the Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso G ...

'' for almost two years, until he chose to live in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. From 1951 to 1953, he was a correspondent from London for the

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

daily ''

Gazzetta del Popolo ''Gazzetta del Popolo'' was an Italian daily newspaper founded in Turin, in northern Italy, on 16 June 1848. It ceased publication on 31 December 1983 after 135 years of operation. Italian novelist Alberto Moravia Alberto Moravia ( , ; born Al ...

''. From 1953 to 1959, he wired his pieces from Rome to the

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

evening newspaper '' Corriere di Informazione''.

Important assignments

In 1960, Levi moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. There, until 1962, he was a

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for the ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

'' and then, until 1966, a correspondent for '' Il Giorno''. In 1966 he moved to

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

, where he was the chief

newscaster A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

until 1968 (this was an innovative change on Italian TV, because previously the News were read by professional "speakers" and not by journalists). Levi returned to the press in 1969, as correspondent for the

newspaper ''

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

'', a job he kept until 1973, when he became the managing director of that very newspaper and its evening edition ''Stampa Sera''. He remained in Turin until 1978. From 1979 to 1983, he collaborated with ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', editing its international section. In 1988, he was appointed Chief Editor of ''

'' and from 1998 to July 3, 2007, he was Adviser for External Relations to two Italian presidents, first

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician and banker who was the prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994 and the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006. Biography Education Ciampi was born i ...

and then

Giorgio Napolitano Giorgio Napolitano (; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who served as president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first Italian president to be re-elected to the presidency. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics ...

Television

Besides the TV News which he led in the 60s, Levi was involved in numerous TV programs, mainly produced for

. Among these: '' Tam Tam'' (1981), ''Punto sette'' and ''Punto sette, una vita''. Then, for Channel 5, ''Tivù Tivù'' with Angelo Campanella (from 1985 to 1987). Thereafter, again for

: ''I giorni dell'infanzia'' (1993), ''Emozioni TV'' (1995) and ''Gli archivi del Cremlino (The

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

Archives)'' (1997), a program which he also authored. In 1999, on

1, he directed ''C'era una volta la Russia (Once Upon A Time, Russia)''.

Death

Levi died on 24 August 2020 in his hometown in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

at the age of 94.

Quote

Bibliography

A selection among the many books and essays published by Arrigo Levi: * ' (

, 1966) (with

Alberto Ronchey Alberto Ronchey (26 September 1926 – 5 March 2010) was an Italian journalist, essayist and politician. He was authorNelli, Andrea. 2013. ''Ronchey : la Russia, l'Italia e il fattore K''; prefazione di Alberto Sinigaglia. n.p.: Pisa : Della Po ...

) * ''Il potere in Russia da Stalin a Breznev'' (Il Mulino, 1967) * ''La televisione all'italiana'' (1969, Etas Kompass) * ''Viaggio fra gli economisti'' (1970, Il Mulino) ** ''Journey Among The Economists'' (1974, Open Court) * ''PCI, la lunga marcia verso il potere'' (1971, Etas Kompass) * ''Un'idea dell'Italia'' (1979,

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

) * ''Il comunismo da Budapest a Praga 1956 – 1958'' (with

Enzo Bettiza Vincenzo Bettiza (7 June 1927 – 28 July 2017) was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavian-born Dalmatian Italians, Italian novelist, journalist and politician. Biography Bettiza was born in Dalmatia, then part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia ...

, Adolfo Battaglia e Ennio Ceccarini) (1969, Edizioni della voce) * ''Ipotesi sull'Italia'' (1983, Il Mulino) * ''La Democrazia nell'Italia che cambia'' (1984, Laterza) * ''Intervista sulla DC'' (1986) * ''Noi: gli italiani'' (1988, Laterza) * ''Tra Est e Ovest'' (1990, Rizzoli) * ''Yitzhak Rabin. 1210 giorni per la pace'' (1996,

) * ''Le due fedi'' (1996, Il Mulino) * ''La vecchiaia può attendere: ovvero l'arte di restare giovani'' (1997,

) * ''Rapporto sul Medio Oriente'' (1998, Il Mulino) * ''Russia del '900'': una storia europea (1999, Corbaccio) * ''Dialoghi di fine Millennio'' (1999, Rizzoli) (with Andrea Riccardi and Eugenio Scalfari) * ''Dialoghi sulla fede'' (2000, Il Mulino) (with Vincenzo Paglia and Andrea Riccardi) * ' (2004, Il Mulino) * ''Cinque discorsi tra due secoli'' (2004, Il Mulino])

Prizes and recognition

* OMRI, Knight Grand Cross (1991) * Trento Prize for Journalism (1987) * as Best Correspondent for the year 1995 *

Ischia International Journalism Award The Ischia International Journalism Award is one of the most important Italian journalism awards. It is organized under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, the Regione Campania, the Province of Naples, the National Fe ...

(2001) * Guidarello Prize (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Arrigo 1926 births 2020 deaths Italian journalists Italian male journalists Italian male writers Jewish Italian writers 20th-century Italian Jews Writers from Modena Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class Italian television personalities La Stampa editors Recipients of Ischia International Journalism Award