''L'Ora'' (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
: ''The Hour'') was a
Sicilian daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...
published in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...
. The paper was founded in 1900 and stopped being published in 1992. In the 1950s-1980s the paper was known for its investigative reporting about the
Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia- terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sici ...
.
Foundation
The paper was founded on the initiative of the entrepreneurial
Florio
The Florio family is a prominent entrepreneurial Italian family who started many lucrative activities in Sicily involving above all the exportation of Sicilian products (such as Marsala wine) in the nineteenth century, in some ways redeeming Si ...
family from Palermo with interests in shipping, shipbuilding, trade and wine industry, fisheries, mining, metallurgy and ceramics.
[L'Ora: la sua storia]
Agave (Contributo allo studio delle fonti della storia dell'arte in Italia nel Novecento - Università degli Studi di Palermo) The first issue was published on April 22, 1900. The formal owner was Carlo Di Rudinì, the son of the former prime minister of Italy
Antonio Di Rudinì
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ma ...
, but the main shareholder and financier was
Ignazio Florio Jr.
Ignazio Florio Jr. (Palermo, 1 September 1869 – Palermo, 19 September 1957) was an Italian entrepreneur, heir of the rich Florio economic dynasty, one of the wealthiest Italian families during the late 19th century. [ The first editor of the paper until 1902 was ]Vincenzo Morello
Vincenzo is an Italian male given name, derived from the Latin name Vincentius (the verb ''vincere'' means to win or to conquer). Notable people with the name include:
Art
*Vincenzo Amato (born 1966), Italian actor and sculptor
* Vincenzo Bell ...
, one of the most respected Italian political journalists of the time.[L'Ora, il primo giornale che ha parlato di mafia]
Rai Storia, April 2, 2014 Before directing ''L'Ora'', Morello had worked for ''La Tribuna'', at that time the most widespread newspaper in the center-south of Italy. Other collaborators were Napoleone Colajanni, Francesco Saverio Nitti
Francesco Saverio Vincenzo de Paolo Nitti (19 July 1868 – 20 February 1953) was an Italian economist and political figure. A Radical, he served as Prime Minister of Italy between 1919 and 1920.
According to the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' ( ...
and Luigi Capuana
Luigi Capuana (May 28, 1839 – November 29, 1915) was an Italian author and journalist and one of the most important members of the ''verist'' movement (see also ''verismo'' (literature)). He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having ...
.
The political direction of the newspaper was generally republican and progressive, representing the Sicilian entrepreneurial middle class.[ After the ]First World War
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 fig ...
the editorial line turned against the rise of fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...
. During this period one of the significant contributors was Alberto Cianca
Alberto Cianca (1884–1966) was an Italian journalist and anti-fascist politician. He edited several significant publications, including '' Il Mondo'', and served in the Parliament and Senate.
Early life and education
Cianca was born in Rome on ...
. In November 1926, in the aftermath of the failed attack against 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 ...
in Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, the paper was suppressed, along with other anti-Fascist newspapers.[
''L'Ora'' reappeared in January 1927 under the direction of Nicola Pascazio, a man close to the Fascist regime, former editor of the '' Il Popolo d'Italia'' ("People of Italy"), the organ of 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 p ...
, with the subtitle "fascist newspaper of the Mediterranean". The Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allies of World War II, Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers (Fascist Italy (192 ...
in July 1943 resulted in the suspension of the newspaper, but publishing resumed on April 8, 1946.[
The paper changed ownership several times. In 1954, the widow of the last owner sold the newspaper to the GATE company, which was owned by the ]Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy.
The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...
(''Partito Comunista Italiano'' – PCI) and directed by Amerigo Terenzi, already in charge of the newspaper ''Paese Sera
Paese (Venetian: ''Paexe'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about northwest of Venice and about west of Treviso. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 19,898 and an are ...
''.[
]
Golden years
Under the new ownership, the newspaper enjoyed its golden years under the editor-in-chief Vittorio Nistico, who directed the paper between 1954-1975. In this period the journal developed into a newspaper that published many investigative reports about the Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia- terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sici ...
, in an era that the organisation was hardly mentioned.[Era L'Ora della mafia in prima pagina]
La Stampa, June 18, 2012[
In 1958, ''L'Ora'' published a series of investigative reports about the rise of Mafia boss Luciano Leggio in ]Corleone
Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily.
Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack D ...
after the killing of the previous boss Michele Navarra
Michele Navarra (; 5 January 1905 – 2 August 1958) was an Italian member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was a qualified physician and headed the Mafia family from the town of Corleone in Sicily. He was known as u patri nostru'' (our father) ...
in August 1958, by reporters Felice Chilanti, Mario Farinella
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
, Enzo Lucchi
Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America b ...
, Michele Pantaleone, Castrense Dadò
Futebol Clube Castrense is a Portuguese football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to r ...
and Enzo Perrone
Enzo is an Italian given name derivative of the German name Heinz. It can be used also as the short form for Lorenzo, Vincenzo, Innocenzo, or Fiorenzo. It is most common in the Romance-speaking world, particularly in Italy and Latin America ...
. The retaliation of Leggio was swift: at 4:52 a.m. on October 19, 1958, a bomb of five kilos TNT exploded in front the newspaper office blowing up half the printing press. Two days later the paper appeared again; the front-page headline read: "The mafia threatens us, the investigation continues" (see Infobox).[L’Ora, avvertimento al tritolo]
La Sicilia, June 14, 2009
The price of the journal's civic engagement was the killing of three of its journalists. The first was Cosimo Cristina, who was killed on May 5, 1960, investigating the Mafia in the area of Termini Imerese
Termini Imerese (; scn, Tèrmini ) , grc, Θερμαὶ αἱ Ἱμερᾶαι , grc, Θερμαὶ Ἱμέραι , or grc, Θερμὰ (Ἱμεραῖα) ; la, Thermae Himerenses; literally " Himera's hot springs". is a town of the Metrop ...
. Next was Mauro De Mauro who disappeared on September 16, 1970, investigating the involvement of the Mafia with the death of Eni president Enrico Mattei
Enrico Mattei (; 29 April 1906 – 27 October 1962) was an Italian public administrator. After World War II he was given the task of dismantling the Italian petroleum agency Agip, a state enterprise established by the Fascist regime. ...
. And finally, Giovanni Spampinato, who was killed on October 27, 1972, while looking into the activities of neo-fascism
Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...
in Sicily and Mafia smuggling activities along the east coast of Sicily.[
]
Decline
In the 1970s, the newspaper started to have financial problems. As an afternoon paper, it was more vulnerable to the competition of TV news than its main competitor, the '' Giornale di Sicilia''. The paper also lost support of the PCI that decided to concentrate on its main publication ''L'Unità
''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of ...
'' in combination with the historic compromise, trying to accommodate the Christian Democrats (DC).[Schneider & Schneider, ''Reversible Destiny'']
p. 62
/ref>
Although ''L'Ora'' changed to publish as a morning newspaper in 1976, the costs that this entailed proved to be excessive and in 1979 the PCI decided the closure of the newspaper. ''L'Ora'', however, "refused to die": a cooperative of journalists and administrators got the right to use the title and the property, while a cooperative of workers got the use of the equipment under the same conditions. The measures were taken in the hope of acquiring financial and editorial independence.[ Nevertheless, by 1980 the ''Giornale di Sicilia'' managed to take advantage of the papers weakened position and demoralized staff to lure away four of its younger and promising reporters (]Roberto Ciuno
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
, Francesco La Licata
Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include:
People with the given name Francesco
* Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...
, Daniele Billiteri
Daniele is an Hebrew male given name, the cognate of the English name Daniel.
Danièle is a French female given name, an alternative spelling of Danielle.
Men with the given name Daniele
* Daniele Bracciali (born 1978), Italian tennis player
...
and Franco Nicastro) to form a new crime staff, which competed with ''L'Ora'' on one of its main news subjects.[
From the economic point of view the journal was kept alive thanks to the NEM (''Nuova Editrice Meridionale''), a company formed by the cooperatives in agreement with the Communist Party, which owned the title and the equipment. Despite the fact that the technological upgrading and renovation of the headquarters in Palermo was successful, editorial and managerial problems led to a lack of adequate leadership. Although the paper enjoyed a revival of sales in 1992, this did not prevent the PDS (''Partito Democratico della Sinistra'' - ]Democratic Party of the Left
The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party ...
), the successor of the PCI, to liquidate ''L'Ora''. The last issue was published on May 8, 1992.[
On 29 September 2019, the street where the editorial staff of the newspaper used to be located was renamed Via "Giornale L'Ora" on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the death of Vittorio Nisticò, the historical director of the newspaper. A commemorative plaque was inaugurated to honour the three reporters killed by the Mafia: Mauro De Mauro, Cosimo Cristina and Giovanni Spampinato and the Mafia attack that hit the printing house in 1958.][Arrivò L'Ora e chiamò mafia la mafia]
by Attilio Bolzoni, La Repubblica, 30 September 2019
La Repubblica, 30 September 2019
References
* Schneider, Jane T. & Peter T. Schneider (2003).
Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo
', Berkeley: University of California Press
External links
Culture of Lawlessness: The Role of the Mass Media
has a chapter by reporter Attilio Bolzoni about working at L'Ora at the end of the 1970s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ora
1900 establishments in Italy
1992 disestablishments in Italy
Defunct newspapers published in Italy
History of the Sicilian Mafia
Italian-language newspapers
Mass media in Palermo
Daily newspapers published in Italy
Newspapers established in 1900
Publications disestablished in 1992
Florio family