Vittorio Feltri ( Bergamo, born 25 June 1943) is an Italian

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and editor in chief of daily ''Libero''.

Biography

Feltri was born in Bergamo, Italy. He graduated with a degree in Political Science and then started his career as journalist in 1962, writing film reviews for the local newspaper ''

L'Eco di Bergamo ''L'Eco di Bergamo'' is an Italian language daily newspaper published in Bergamo, Italy. The paper has been in circulation since 1880. History and profile ''L'Eco di Bergamo'' was established by the Sesa company in 1880. Its publisher is SESAA ...

''. In 1977 he moved to '' Corriere della Sera''. In 1993 Feltri refused the offer of

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 f ...

to get involved in Fininvest. The next year he agreed to become editor of ''

il Giornale ''il Giornale'' ( en, The Newspaper) is an Italian language daily newspaper published in Milan, Italy. History and profile The newspaper was founded in 1974 by the journalist Indro Montanelli, together with the colleagues Enzo Bettiza, Ferenc ...

'', which was owned by Berlusconi, after its founder

Indro Montanelli Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli (; 22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist, historian and writer. He was one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes according to the International Press Institute. A volunte ...

left. He was its editor until 1997. In the same period, he contributed to other newspapers and magazines, including '' Panorama'', ''

Il Foglio ''Il Foglio'' (English: "The Paper") is an Italian centrist daily newspaper with circulation around 25.000 copies per day (with an overall spread of 47.000). It was founded in 1996 by the Italian journalist and politician Giuliano Ferrara after ...

'' and '' Il Messaggero''. In 2000, he founded the right-wing newspaper '' Libero'', which he ran until 2009. In August 2009, he once again became the editor of Berlusconi's ''il Giornale''. In January 2015, he was nominated candidate for

President of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian poli ...

by Lega Nord and

Brothers of Italy Brothers of Italy ( it, Fratelli d'Italia, FdI) is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Italy. It is led by Giorgia Meloni, the incumbent Prime Minister of Italy and the first woman to serve in the position. Acco ...

. He is an atheist.

Controversy

In December 2011, the Court of Milan sentenced Feltri to compensate Gianpaolo Silvestri, the former

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. T ...

senator, among the founders of Arcigay, with 50 thousand euros for a

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

insult. He had, in fact, used the ''argumentum ad hominem'', a strategy of rhetoric, also used by the

Sophist A sophist ( el, σοφιστής, sophistes) was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, and mathematics. They taught ' ...

s of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...

, aimed exclusively at 'damaging' the adversary (as opposed to philosopher

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, who ― on the other hand ― had the 'goal' of reaching

Truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belie ...

). In 2017, one of the

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 ...

journalists who wrote for the newspaper directed by Vittorio Feltri, Renato Farina, said that, according to him,

Asia Argento Asia Argento (; born Aria Maria Vittoria Rossa Argento; 20 September 1975) is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with ...

''simply'' chose to prostitute herself in order to be able to make a career. According to Alessandro Sallusti, another

, in fact, there was nothing wrong with all this! However, according to him, it was unfair to sue after twenty years, ''only'' after gaining fame. In 2018 he declared that the best

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 i ...

for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and its future would be

Giorgia Meloni Giorgia Meloni (; born 15 January 1977) is an Italian politician who has been serving as the Prime Minister of Italy since 22 October 2022, the first woman to hold this position. A member of the Chamber of Deputies since 2006, she has led the ...

. In 2019, he expressed

anti-semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

views against journalist

David Parenzo David Parenzo (born 14 February 1976) is an Italian journalist and radio/television presenter. He is mostly known for being host, together with Giuseppe Cruciani, of the Italian radio show '' La Zanzara''. Biography Great-grandson of the Ga ...

and claimed that

Jews 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 ...

have "bored" him with

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. In the same

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...

, he declared himself in favor of legal prostitution, both

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

and

female Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

. In April 2020, during a television show, Feltri considered southern Italians as "inferior people". His words caused controversy around Italy. He also said that, for him, they were "inferior" ''only and exclusively'' from a purely ''

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

'' point of view, in the sense that the production of

material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

(not spiritual) wealth, according to him, was superior in Lombardy, rather than in

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

. He said, furthermore, that he was deeply in love with the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, its

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

, its

songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

and its culture. In February 2021, during a television interview, he was asked by the journalist

Barbara Palombelli Barbara may refer to: People * Barbara (given name) * Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter * Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer * Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously ...

: "Which relevant people would you like in the new government?" He replied to her "

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

", provoking controversy both on social media and in the press.

References

External links

Articles written on ''Libero''

Articles written on ''il Giornale''

Articles written on ''Panorama''
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Feltri, Vittorio 1943 births Living people Writers from Bergamo Italian anti-communists Candidates for President of Italy Italian newspaper editors Italian male journalists Italian newspaper founders