| Fondata da Antonio Gramsci ("Founded byAntonio Gramsci") | |
 | |
 Front page, 5 March 2009 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Berliner |
| Owner | Romeo editore srl |
| Editor | Piero Sansonetti |
| Founded | 12 February 1924 |
| Political alignment | Communism (1924–1991) Social democracy (1991–currently) Democratic socialism (2023-currently) Left-libertarianism (2023–currently) Social liberalism (2015–2017) Parties: PCI (1924–1991) PDS (1991–1998) DS (1998–2007) PD (2007–2017) |
| Headquarters | Via di Pallacorda 7,Rome, Italy |
| Circulation | 20,937 (April 2014) |
| ISSN | 0391-7002 |
| Website | unita.it |
l'Unità (Italian:[luniˈta]; English: "the Unity") is an Italiannewspaper, founded as the official newspaper of theItalian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, theDemocratic Party of the Left,Democrats of the Left, and, from October 2007 until 2017, theDemocratic Party.
The newspaper closed on 31 July 2014.[1] It was restarted on 30 June 2015, but it ceased again on 3 June 2017.[2] On 16 May 2023, it was relaunched for a third time as an independent publication under the editorship of Piero Sansonetti.[3]
l'Unità was founded byAntonio Gramsci[4] on 12 February 1924[5] as the "newspaper of workers and peasants", the official newspaper of theItalian Communist Party (PCI).[6] The paper was printed in Milan with a circulation of 20,000 to 30,000. On 8 November 1925, publications were blocked by the city's prefect together withAvanti!, the newspaper of theItalian Socialist Party (PSI). After an assassination attempt onBenito Mussolini (31 October 1926), its publication was completely suppressed. A clandestine edition was resumed on the first day of 1927 with irregular circulation inMilan,Turin,Rome and inFrance. Full publication was resumed after the Allied conquest of Rome on 6 June 1944, the neweditor-in-chief beingCeleste Negarville.
After the liberation from theGerman occupation in 1945, new local editions began in Milan,Genoa and Turin, the latter edited by philosopherLudovico Geymonat.Elio Vittorini became the editor-in-chief ofl'Unità during this period.[7] The newspaper's contributors includedDavide Layolo,Luigi Cavallo,Ada Gobetti,Cesare Pavese,Italo Calvino,Alfonso Gatto,Aldo Tortorella andPaolo Spriano. In the same year, thefesta de l'Unità was launched in most Italian cities. In 1957, the Genoese, Milanese and Torinese editions were merged into a single edition fornorthern Italy.
The newspaper's editorships were unified in 1962 underMario Alicata, who was succeeded byMaurizio Ferrara in 1966. In 1974, daily circulation ofl'Unità amounted to 239,000 copies, but in the early 1980s this number was to fall substantially, mostly due to competition from the new left-orientedla Repubblica: the 100 million copies sold in 1981 decreased by two-fifths in just one year alone, to 60 million in 1982. It was also in 1982 that a document was published by the newspaper which accused theChristian Democratic ministerVincenzo Scotti of collaborating with theCamorra leaderRaffaele Cutolo, a claim that was subsequently proved to be false.[8] The editor-in-chiefClaudio Petruccioli resigned and was replaced byEmanuele Macaluso.Massimo D'Alema, the futurePrime Minister of Italy, was managing-director until July 1990.
From 1989 to 1990, the newspaper was accompanied by the satirical weekly magazineCuore, directed byMichele Serra. In 1991, the title changed fromJournal of the Italian Communist Party toJournal founded by Antonio Gramsci. From 1992 to 1996, its director wasWalter Veltroni, who started periodically providing free gifts, such as books andvideocassettes, with copies of the newspaper.
The newspaper ceased publication for eight months from 28 July 2000 to 28 March 2001 because of financial problems. Following this uncertain period, it was published byBaldini & Castoldi, a company not linked to theDemocrats of the Left (DS) orDemocratic Party (PD); however, its political position continued to be strongly tied to the DS and PD.[5]
In May 2008,Tiscali founder andSardinia presidentRenato Soru finalized a deal to become the new newspaper owner.[9] One of the first moves made by the new property was the appointment of formerla Repubblica journalistConcita De Gregorio as new editor-in-chief in August 2008,[5] replacingAntonio Padellaro in the post.[10] In June 2009,Maurizio Mian's Gunther Reform Holding invested €3m to acquire a 20% stake inl'Unità, still under the ownership of Soru.[11] On 7 May 2012, the paper began to be published inBerliner format.[12]
l'Unita again suspended publication on 31 July 2014.[1][13][14] A meeting of shareholders was unable to decide how to keep the newspaper financially viable as debts amounted to €30 million.[15]
On 30 June 2015,l'Unità resumed its publications, under the new editor Erasmo d'Angelis and with a renewed graphic style; the new owner was Stefano Pessina, a major Italian building businessmen, while a minority share was owned by the Democratic Party. The newly-relaunched paper soon found itself in financial crisis again, with a net loss of 250,000 euros per month and only 8,000 copies sold (out of the 60,000 printed).[16] In an attempt to improve the situation, the owners dismissed D'Angelis and appointedSergio Staino (acartoonist who had longed worked for the paper) as new editor; this proved ineffective and on 3 June 2017l'Unità ceased publications for the third time.[17]
From 2018 to 2022,l'Unità published only one number a year, in order to avoid losing its publication license.[18][19][20]
On 27 July 2022, the publishing company ofl'Unità declaredbankruptcy and the paper was put for sale in publicauctions.[21]
On 22 November 2022, the Romeo Editore srl group (which had recently acquired and relaunchedIl Riformista) boughtl'Unità with an offer of 910,000 euros.[22] Piero Sansonetti was subsequently appointed editor and the newspaper resumed publications on 16 May 2023.[3]
The 1988 circulation ofl'Unita was 300,000 copies.[23] In 1991, the paper had a circulation of circa 156,000 copies, but next year its circulation was 124,000 copies.[24] In 1997, it was the tenth best-selling Italian newspaper with a circulation of 82,078 copies.[25] The circulation of the paper was 49,536 copies in 2008 and 53,221 copies in 2009.[26] It fell to 44,450 copies in 2010.[26] In April 2014, the paper had a circulation of 20,937 copies.[27] In 2016, circulation had fallen to 8,000 copies and further declined to 7,000 copies in 2017.[16]
Publications suspended from 2000 to 2001
Publications suspended from 2014 to 2015
Publications suspended from 2017 to 2023
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