''Il Popolo d'Italia'' ("The People of Italy") was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

newspaper published from 15 November 1914 until 24 July 1943. It was founded by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

as a pro-war newspaper during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and it later became the main newspaper of the

Fascist movement Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

in Italy after the war. It published editions every day with the exception of Mondays. The paper was founded in

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 ...

in November 1914 after Mussolini's expulsion from the Socialist Party, Retrieved April 8, 2022 with the aim of supporting Italian entry into World War I. The war had started several months previously, but Italy was neutral at the time and would remain so until May 1915. ''Il Popolo d'Italia'', advocating

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

and

irredentism Irredentism is usually understood as a desire that one state annexes a territory of a neighboring state. This desire is motivated by ethnic reasons (because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to the population of the parent sta ...

, received financial backing from major companies including Ansaldo and others, especially from the sugar and electrical industries, who wished for Italy to join the war. The paper was also subsidized by government-backed sources in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, on the pretext of influencing Italy to join the

Entente Powers The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...

in the war. Investigations to identify the sources of funding for the Mussolini newspaper continued even after the World War; the documents found testify both the provenance and the financiers. In 1917 the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

financed the newspaper: Mussolini made a commitment, for the sum of 100 pounds a week, to boycott any pacifist demonstrations in Italy. Today the documents found attest to the payment of contributions from Italian industrialists interested in increasing military expenses for Italy's desired entry into the war; among these stand out the names of Carlo Esterle ( Edison), Emilio Bruzzone ("Società siderurgica di Savona"and" Italian Society for the Indigenous Sugar Industry", of which Eridania was the most important member),

Giovanni Agnelli Giovanni Agnelli (13 August 1866 – 16 December 1945) was an Italian businessman, who founded Fiat car manufacturing in 1899. Early life The son of Edoardo Agnelli and Aniceta Frisetti, he was born in 1866 in Villar Perosa, a small town near ...

(

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

), Pio Perrone (Ansaldo) and Emanuele Vittorio Parodi (Acciaierie Odero). After the war, ''Il Popolo d'Italia'' became associated with the new

, which was also led by Benito Mussolini. The paper served as a way of uniting the many autonomous fascist groups across Italy in the early 1920s, and provided a way to attract new political allies and financial backers. Mussolini left the editorial staff of the paper when he moved to

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 ...

to become

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in 1922, but he maintained control by appointing his younger brother Arnaldo as director of the paper, and by communicating regularly with the editors-in-chief. Throughout the period of Fascist rule in the Kingdom of Italy, ''Il Popolo d'Italia'' officially remained an independent privately owned newspaper, separate from the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

and the Italian state. However, it received funds from the party and the state, as well as continued support from the private sector, and consistently promoted the Fascist point of view on the issues of the day. During his time in power, Mussolini often wrote anonymously for ''Il Popolo d'Italia'', such as when he mocked a proposal for an Italian copy of "Heil Hitler", or to spread his ideas about Italy increasing its

birth rate The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...

. The masthead of the newspaper carried quotes from socialist revolutionary

Louis Auguste Blanqui Louis Auguste Blanqui (; 8 February 1805 – 1 January 1881) was a French socialist and political activist, notable for his revolutionary theory of Blanquism. Biography Early life, political activity and first imprisonment (1805–1848) Bla ...

("Whoever has steel has bread") and

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

("The Revolution is an idea which has found bayonets!"). From 1936 to 1943, the paper was edited by

Giorgio Pini Giorgio Pini (1 February 1899, in Bologna – 30 March 1987, in Rome) was an Italian politician and journalist. Biography Pini studied law at the University of Bologna and served in World War I before joining the Bologna fascio in 1920.Philip ...

. Among the co-founders were

Manlio Morgagni Manlio Morgagni (June 3, 1879 in Forlì-Cesena – July 26, 1943 in Rome) was an Italian Fascist, journalist, former mayor of Milan, former member of the Senate of Italy, and director of the prominent news agency Agenzia Stefani during a period wh ...

, who became an ardent supporter of fascism and the chairman of news agency

Agenzia Stefani Agenzia Stefani was the leading press agency in Italy from the mid-19th century until the end of World War II. It was founded by Guglielmo Stefani on 26 January 1853 in Turin, and was closed on 29 April 1945 in Milan. History The beginning ''T ...

. Following the

fall of the Fascist regime in Italy The fall of the Fascist regime in Italy, also known in Italy as 25 Luglio ( it, Venticinque Luglio, ; "25 July"), came as a result of parallel plots led respectively by Count Dino Grandi and King Victor Emmanuel III during the spring and sum ...

, the newspaper was banned by Prime Minister

Pietro Badoglio Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino (, ; 28 September 1871 – 1 November 1956), was an Italian general during both World Wars and the first viceroy of Italian East Africa. With the fall of the Fascist regime ...

on 24 July 1943. After the

German invasion of Italy Operation Achse (german: Fall Achse, lit=Case Axis), originally called Operation Alaric (), was the codename for the German operation to forcibly disarm the Italian armed forces after Italy's armistice with the Allies on 3 September 1943. ...

and the creation of the

Italian Social Republic The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...

(RSI), Mussolini explicitly refused to revive the newspaper, since he did not want it to become a mouthpiece of the German occupation forces. Instead the newly-founded

Republican Fascist Party The Republican Fascist Party ( it, Partito Fascista Repubblicano, PFR) was a political party in Italy led by Benito Mussolini during the German occupation of Central and Northern Italy and was the sole legal and ruling party of the Italian Socia ...

adopted ''Il Lavoro Fascista'' (formerly a publication of

fascist syndicalism Fascist syndicalism (related to national syndicalism) was a trade syndicate movement (''syndicat'' means trade union in French) that rose out of the pre-World War II provenance of the revolutionary syndicalism movement led mostly by Edmondo Ross ...

) as its new official newspaper; despite this, during the period of the RSI, Mussolini generally wrote on 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 ...

'', when he felt that it was necessary to publish his declarations. In 1944, Mussolini sold the headquarters of ''Il Popolo d'Italia'' to Italian businessman Gian Riccardo Cella and, after the Liberation of Italy, they were used to publish the ''Corriere Lombardo''. In 1946 the Italian government invalidated Mussolini's selling and confiscated it.

Contributors

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experim ...

* Luigi Barzini, Sr. *

Luigi Razza Luigi Razza (1892–1935) was an Italian journalist and fascist politician who died in an aviation accident in Cairo while serving as the minister of public works. He held several significant posts during the Fascist rule in Italy. Early li ...

Umberto Saba Umberto Saba (9 March 1883 – 26 August 1957) was an Italian poet and novelist, born Umberto Poli in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean port of Trieste when it was the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Poli assumed the pen name " ...

References

External links

«Il Popolo d'Italia» archives (1914-1943)
a
Biblioteca di Storia Moderna e Contemporanea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popolo d'Italia, Il 1914 establishments in Italy 1943 disestablishments in Italy Benito Mussolini Cultural history of World War I Daily newspapers published in Italy Defunct newspapers published in Italy Fascist newspapers and magazines Italian-language newspapers Italian Fascism Newspapers published in Milan Politics of World War I Publications established in 1914 Publications disestablished in 1943