''MicroMega'' is a political, cultural, social and economic
newsmagazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories, in greater depth than do newspapers or new ...
published
bimonthly in Rome, Italy. The title ''MicroMega'' is probably inspired by a tale by
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...
.
History and profile
''MicroMega'' was founded in March 1986 by the editors
Giorgio Ruffolo
Giorgio Ruffolo (14 August 1926 – 16 February 2023) was an Italian economist, journalist and politician who held several government posts and was the Italian Minister of the Environment, minister of environment for five years between 1987 and 1 ...
and
Paolo Flores d'Arcais
Paolo Flores d'Arcais (; born in Cervignano del Friuli, on 11 July 1944) is an Italian philosopher and journalist, editor of the magazine ''MicroMega''. He contributes to ''Il Fatto Quotidiano'', '' El País'', ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' ...
. The magazine is published by the
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale S.p.A., formerly known as Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A. is an Italian media conglomerate. Founded in 1955, it is based in Turin, Italy.
History
In 2009, the group L'Espresso created an online advertising consortium ...
and is based in Rome. Its editor is Paolo Flores d'Arcais.
During the first years, the magazine had a subtitle "Le ragioni della sinistra" ("The Reasons of the Left"). Later this subtitle was removed. Each number has now a different title, inspired by a discussion theme.
Given its format, which includes long essays and articles, the journal tends to cater to an intellectual elite. Journalist
Marco Travaglio
Marco Travaglio (; born 13 October 1964) is an Italian investigative journalist, writer and opinion leader, editor of the independent journal ''Il Fatto Quotidiano''.
Biography
Travaglio was born in Turin and earned a degree in history from th ...
is one of its better known contributors. Many philosophers, social scientists and men and women of science and other leading figures have written on this paper, including
Massimo Cacciari
Massimo Cacciari (; born 5 June 1944) is an Italian philosopher, politician and public intellectual.
Biography
Born in Venice, Cacciari graduated in philosophy from the University of Padua (1967), where he also received his doctorate, writing a ...
,
Joseph Ratzinger
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
,
Bruno Forte
Bruno Forte (born 1 August 1949) is an Italian Roman Catholic theologian and ecclesiastic, currently Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto.
Biography
Archbishop Forte was born in Naples. He was ordained a priest on 18 April 1973. He studied at Tübingen U ...
,
Michele Santoro
Michele Santoro (born 2 July 1951) is an Italian journalist, and television host and presenter.
He also served till October 2005 as Member of the European Parliament for Southern Italy with the United in the Olive Tree list, part of the Sociali ...
,
Gianni Vattimo
Gianteresio Vattimo (born 4 January 1936) is an Italian philosopher and politician.
Biography
Gianteresio Vattimo was born in Turin, Piedmont. He studied philosophy under the existentialist Luigi Pareyson at the University of Turin, and graduat ...
,
Leszek Kołakowski
Leszek Kołakowski (; ; 23 October 1927 – 17 July 2009) was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, especially his three-volume history, '' Main Currents of Marxism'' (1976 ...
,
Marcel Gauchet
Marcel Gauchet (; born 1946) is a French historian, philosopher, and sociologist. He is professor emeritus of the Centre de recherches politiques Raymond Aron at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and head of the periodical ''Le D ...
,
Margherita Hack
Margherita Hack (; 12 June 1922 – 29 June 2013) was an Italian astrophysicist and scientific disseminator. The asteroid 8558 Hack, discovered in 1995, was named in her honour.
Biography
Hack was born in Florence. Her father Roberto Hack was ...
and
Walter Veltroni
Walter Veltroni (; born 3 July 1955) is an Italian writer, film director, journalist, and politician, who served as the first leader of the Democratic Party within the centre-left opposition, until his resignation on 17 February 2009. He serv ...
.
The magazine was issued monthly from 20 February to 20 April 2006, then weekly (over an eight-week period) during the 2006 Italian political campaign. In this time, it was issued with the title ''La primavera di MicroMega''. In 2007, the magazine returned to the original bimonthly format.
''MicroMega'' has an average circulation of 25,000-30,000 copies. In 2006, some issues sold more than 100,000 copies.
On 8 July 2008, ''MicroMega'' organised a rally against
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
's attempt to limit the power of the judiciary by getting parliament to pass a law that granted individuals occupying the four highest offices of the land (the
President of the Republic, the
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 ...
, the
President of the Chamber of Deputies President of the Chamber of Deputies may refer to:
* List of presidents of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies
* List of presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of Bolivia
* President of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil)
* President of the Chamber of Dep ...
and the
President of the Senate
President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies.
The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...
) retroactive immunity from prosecution during their mandate. As prime minister, Berlusconi would thus be protected from prosecution until he left office. Roughly 100,000 people gathered in Rome's Piazza Navona to express their indignation at the new law. In 2009, that law was judged unconstitutional and repealed by the
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
.
On 13 December 2020,
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale S.p.A., formerly known as Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A. is an Italian media conglomerate. Founded in 1955, it is based in Turin, Italy.
History
In 2009, the group L'Espresso created an online advertising consortium ...
announced that the magazine would cease it publications with the start of the new year. However, Paolo Flores d'Arcais later announced that he had bought the paper, which resumed publications March 2021 under the new "MicroMega Edizioni Impresa Sociale srl".
See also
*
List of magazines published in Italy
In Italy there are many magazines. Following the end of World War II the number of weekly magazines significantly expanded. From 1970 feminist magazines began to increase in number in the country. The number of consumer magazines was 975 in 1995 ...
*
Marco Travaglio
Marco Travaglio (; born 13 October 1964) is an Italian investigative journalist, writer and opinion leader, editor of the independent journal ''Il Fatto Quotidiano''.
Biography
Travaglio was born in Turin and earned a degree in history from th ...
References
External links
MicroMega official siteMicroMega ''(più che) quotidiano'' Official site of the weekly series ''La primavera di MicroMega''
The issue n.1 of 2003* The rally
Day of Legality', organized 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 ...
by MicroMega.
*
Filosofia e Religione A historical best-selling issue of MicroMega.
* Cover of 2005 issues
6/2005https://web.archive.org/web/20070929101147/http://www.associazionedocenti.it/contenuti/articoli.asp?MID=7&SID=39&AID=447]
5/2005https://web.archive.org/web/20051227054717/http://www.igirotondi.it/modules/soapbox/article.php?articleID=6]
4/2005
{{Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso
1986 establishments in Italy
Bi-monthly magazines published in Italy
Cultural magazines
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale
Italian-language magazines
Magazines established in 1986
Magazines published in Rome
Monthly magazines published in Italy
News magazines published in Italy
Political magazines published in Italy