History and profile
The newspaper was founded in 1974 by the journalist Indro Montanelli, together with the colleagues Enzo Bettiza, Ferenc Fejtő, Raymond Aron and others, after some disagreements with the new pro-Left-wing politics, left editorial line adopted by the newspaper ''Corriere della Sera'', where Montanelli had been one of the most important contributors. Montanelli left ''Corriere della Sera'' in 1973. The newspaper was first published on 25 June 1974 as ''il Giornale nuovo'', with Indro Montanelli as editor and member of the publishing company board of directors and an editorial office composed of 59 journalists. The paper has a conservative stance. The paper's headquarters is in Milan. In 1977 Montanelli, in financial difficulties, accepted an offer by Silvio Berlusconi, who thus became the new owner. In 1983 the paper was renamed as ''il Giornale''. When Berlusconi entered politics in December 1993, however, Montanelli left fearing for his own independence, and went on to found the short-lived daily newspaper ''La Voce (newspaper), La Voce''. In 1992, Berlusconi left the role of the owner of ''il Giornale'' to his brother Paolo Berlusconi, Paolo. Vittorio Feltri replaced Indro Montanelli as editor. , the publisher of the newspaper, Società Europea di Edizioni, was owned by Paolo (58.3%) and Mondadori, Mondadori Editori (41.7% directly and indirectly). The paper was published in broadsheet format until May 2005 when it switched to tabloid format. In May 2005 ''il Giornale'' started its online version. In 2007 the monthly business magazine ''Espansione'' became a Supplement (publishing), supplement of the paper. As of 2016, Società Europea di Edizioni was still partially owned by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore directly for 36.90%, which is a listed company that majority owned by Fininvest. It was reported that Roberto Amodei, the owner of several sports newspaper of Italy, had interested to subscribe the capital increase of Società Europea di Edizioni.Circulation
''il Giornale'' was the seventh best-selling Italian newspaper in 1997 with a circulation of 218,741 copies. The paper had a circulation of 235,000 copies in 2000. The circulation of the paper was 228,198 copies in 2001 and it was 219,363 copies in 2002. The circulation of the paper was 216,000 copies in 2003 and 208,407 copies in 2004. In 2008 the paper had an average circulation of 192,667 copies. The circulation of the paper was 184,882 copies in 2009 and 183,923 copies in 2010. In 2012 ''il Giornale'' sold 79,125,210 copies.Il Giornale della Libertà
''Il Giornale della Libertà'' was a free weekly political, headed by Michela Vittoria Brambilla, and attached to ''Il Giornale'', but was severely criticized by its editorial staff, who later went on strike (for the second time after the departure of Indro Montanelli). The last issue is still available from the Internet Archive.Editors
*Indro Montanelli (1974–1994) *Vittorio Feltri (1994–1997) *Mario Cervi (1997–2000) *Maurizio Belpietro (2000–2007) *Mario Giordano (2007–2009) *Vittorio Feltri (2009–2010) *Alessandro Sallusti (2010–2021) *Augusto Minzolini (2021-present)See also
* List of newspapers in Italy * Howard Schultz#Career, il Giornale: namesake American coffeeshop, predecessor to StarbucksNotes
External links