All language subtitles for kotany

L'ORA
SICILIAN POLITICAL NEWSPAPER

SERBIAN STUDENT KILLS
AUSTRIAN HEIR AND WIFE

GERMANY DECLARES WAR
ON RUSSIA AND FRANCE

LOYAL SICILY BETRAYED AND VILIFIED
AT THE LAST MINUTE

RECLAIMS ITS RIGHT
TO FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE

Everything began on an August day in 1954.

I had left Rome full of optimism

to become the editor
of a newspaper in Palermo,

which I knew had a great history.

A sense of happiness came over me
as I stepped off the airplane.

I felt enthralled by the golden air
of the rocks of the amphitheater

and the mountains and cliffs
overlooking the sea,

which spread out before me.

I still didn't have a clear vision
for the future direction of L'Ora,

but I knew it would have
journalistic potential

if it could relaunch its identity
and take on a challenge.

My first concern was
to widen the paper's appeal.

We were able to do so
thanks to the immediate formation

of a highly intellectual staff.

I am especially referring to
Mario Farinella, Aldo Costa,

and a few months later,
Giuliana Salatino.

OUR TERRIBLE CITY

INVESTIGATIVE REPORT BY GIULIA SALA

In the following months,
many intellectuals and writers

gathered around our newspaper.

Enzo Sellerio, Vincenzo Consolo
and Michele Perriera.

Perriera started as a rookie reporter,

before, just a few years later,

becoming our best cultural editor

MUSIC CRITIC FOR L'ORA

Nisticò was lucky, because he found

a group of first-rate
intellectual journalists.

It's hard to imagine there being
just one of these writers

at the newspaper L'Ora.

These people had
a formidable talent for writing.

A SICILIAN IN MILAN: FAR FROM HOME
BY VINCENZO CONSOLO

VESPERS ON TRIAL

We felt that Sciascia was one of us.

SICILIANS AND RELIGION

He would take on direct reporting,
or fiery controversies.

SICILY ISN'T AFRICA

When the newspaper asked him
for an article or a commentary...

OCELOTS AND JACKALS

...he would come into the newsroom
almost furtively,

as if he wanted to be seen
as little as possible.

He would slowly take out
a sheet folded in four.

THE ART OF THE SLY
BY LEONARDO SCIASCIA

He'd say,
"Tell me if that's okay."

That's what he always did.

AN INVESTIGATION IN PALERMO

LIFE AND CULTURE IN TODAY'S ITALY

"Thank you, Nanà!",
we would reply.

A LITERARY MAN

Very few people called him "Nanà".

"Nanà" was his childhood nickname.

In 1961,

L'Ora published two full pages,
which can be seen here,

on these pages.

"A century of history
for literary Sicily."

"An essay by Leonardo Sciascia."

These are two full pages
of a large newspaper.

The newspaper only had 16 pages,

so it occupied a huge space.

Leonardo Sciascia was a father figure,
our guiding light.

He actively participated.

He often participated in meetings,

in which we would set the paper out.

He was amazing,
because he was the first to perceive

the direction that a certain event
was going to take.

CRIME JOURNALIST L'ORA

We affectionately called him
"Alberta Cuntrariosa",

an Italian made-up name for someone
who always contradicts others.

He always found something to reproach...

within the popular opinion.

He always found a particular viewpoint

which made you look
at a subject differently,

something no one else had seen.

WORK FOR LOCALS

NO MORE MAFIA AND FRIENDS
IN PUBLIC OFFICE

A few months after Sciascia,
Danilo Dolci began working with us.

He was an intellectual activist,
radically different from Leonardo.

As a Sicilian man of enlightenment
and an anti-populist by vocation,

Leonardo couldn't stand his philosophy

or his preaching and activism methods,

which he considered far-removed
from the Sicily he knew.

Dolci would arrive at the newspaper
with a large bag full of papers.

He would take out his notebook
and quickly explain in detail...

ENCOUNTERS BY DANILO DOLCI
ARROGANCE AND DISORDER

...precisely what he had to say
about a topic that interested him...

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF POVERTY

...as well as the specific articles
he wanted to write.

EMPLOYMENT FOR ALL, LIKE IN SWEDEN
REPORT BY DANILO DOLCI

UNEMPLOYMENT INCONCEIVABLE
FOR NORWEGIANS, BY DANILO DOLCI

SWEDISH COMPLAIN: "BREAD NOT ENOUGH"
BY DANILO DOLCI

Official news channels
could not accommodate such ideas,

so all the intellectuals that didn't
identify with mainstream political opinion

found a place to express themselves
in a small newspaper.

But due to its disruptive force
as well as its persistence

in the fight against the mafia,

that small newspaper became a symbol

for the rest of the country.

The mafia looked to their rifles

The rulers did not like this law

They were like rabid dogs

Chewing their own hind legs

The poor workers

The unfortunate ones

Who bite at your heels!

Turiddu knew these beasts

And was wary of the bushes

MURDERED TRADE UNIONIST IN SCIARA
KILLED FOR DEFENDING EVERYONE

I remember clearly
my first encounter with the mafia.

It was an evening in May 1955 in Sciara,

following the murder
of the Palermo trade unionist,

Salvatore Carnevale.

That evening in the square in Sciara,

Pertini and Carlo Levi were also there.

Pertini spoke first,
passionately condemning the mafia.

But only a few people heard him.

You could see some faces...

through half-opened shutters.

Sorgi and Mario Farinella
had come with me to Sciara.

Nobody could have written
about that murder as well as Farinella.

The last tragic shred of a rural war...

as Carlo Levi called it.

THE GANGSTER AND POWER

WHEN POWER IS SILENCE
AND SILENCE IS POWER

We were an afternoon paper.

We needed to offer more
than the morning paper.

Also Nisticò had a love of photography,
which we liked.

PHOTOGRAPHER FOR L'ORA

He appreciated photographs,
which as a photographer was important.

He knew how to cut pictures well.

MAFIA MASSACRE TRAGEDY

The front pages were really impressive.

He and Aldo Costa
would cut photos mercilessly.

CRIME JOURNALIST FOR L'ORA

They had huge scissors.

But he would always find...

the right cut.

For Vittorio Nisticò the photograph
was a fundamental part of the front page.

He would sketch out the front page
with big red and blue crayons.

He would say, "Eh",
because he spoke like that,

"Eh, here we'll put the photo
of the mother holding her son."

And we would say,
"But chief, there is no photo."

"Well, find it!
That photo goes here."

It was a large photo,
like he had seen in the English tabloids.

Only the English tabloids
did that back then.

SICILIAN FATHER WANTS CUSTODY
FROM FINNISH MOTHER

The photographers of L'Ora
were journalists.

Nicola Scafidi was the father figure
because he was also the oldest.

He competed with Gigi Petyx,

who really focused on quality.

The third one was Lo Bianco...

who was a newshound.

He was a force of nature.
No picture was impossible for him.

I remember one day we arrived
at the Villa Sofia Hospital,

were there was an injured man
who had just been shot.

Lo Bianco followed him
into the operating room.

Everyone was bewildered,
thinking, "Who is this guy?"

He climbed up on a stool,

took the photo and had left
before they realized what had happened.

There's not much to say.
I used a Rolleiflexe.

PHOTOGRAPHER FOR L'ORA

Not a Canon or a Nikon,
200 or 400.

This was a twin-lens camera

that shot 12 frames on 6x6 film.

It had ISO 100 sensitivity.

That meant you had to master
the camera.

I always carried my camera
in case a photo opportunity arose.

LUPARA SINGS

All of our work had meaning.

ONLY PIGS LITTER

In the morning, I may photograph
someone who had been killed.

I would face the pain,
the crying,

or the silence,
the flies buzzing around.

Then in the afternoon,
I may cover a beauty pageant.

The work was varied and exhausting.

Since then I've always wore clogs,

because I spent hours standing
in front of the police and response teams

and my feet would swell.

I was always very tired,
but it was wonderful.

It was wonderful because it was exciting,
other aspects weren't wonderful.

I remember...

certain moments of great pain.

Meeting a mother crying for her son...

MURDER OF MAN FROM TRAPANI

...taken away in an instant.

That was terribly sad.

We lived those moments fully,

convinced that we had to report it all.

Our challenge was to report everything.

Although L'Ora had its flaws,

rushed judgments,
excessive hyperbole,

the central idea of its
political journalism remained intact:

The desire to end poverty in Sicily

and to make the island a place

where people who were born there
could also live there,

and would be grateful to do so.

That was the idea.

CHEERFUL ROSIN
AND GUN-SLINGING STEPMOTHER

Nisticò thought up a model of news

that was accessible to the public.

It was a newspaper...

JOURNALIST FOR L'ORA

...that had a considerable voice
on the cultural panorama,

but it was also a popular newspaper.

MURDER IN CASTELDACCIA
SUSPECT IN THE SMALL HAREM

It was focused on news and crime stories.

SOMEONE SAID TOO MUCH IN ALLEY
ON WARD SILENCE REIGNS

You could say it focused
on the crudeness of society...

CLOSED DUE TO ROBBERY

...and the refined spheres
of politics and culture.

L'Ora was the first publication
to mix the crude and the refined.

JOURNALIST FOR L'ORA

No matter what happened,

be it general news, crime,
political or cultural news,

the point was to create a mosaic
of the city,

in which everything would be included.

It may have been too much
to try to have everything.

But this meant that even if
you wrote a music review,

it was also a social critique.

It was activist journalism,

but it tried to bring culture
and activism together.

It wasn't common at that time.

When you talk about L'Ora,
you talk about these battles.

THEATRE CRITIC FOR L'ORA

The reports on the mafia, etc.
The bomb in the printing press.

But a fundamental aspect of the newspaper,

especially when Nisticò was the editor,

was its focus on culture and society.

BOOKS
ANTI-CHRISTIAN NIETZSCHE

Culture was an instrument
of political activism.

JEAN GENET'S NOVELS

The worker was always in the minority
and degraded by his masters,

because he knew fewer words than them.

There was a central awareness that,
without culture,

one could not reach a certain status,

or achieve certain goals.

The driving idea was a social idea.

The salvation of Sicily.

The progress of Palermo society.

BREAD AND DEATH

DON CALÒ
THE LIFE OF A BOSS

In 1958 the "Bread and Death" headline...

BLOOD CALLS FOR BLOOD

...instantly identified
the dialectic substance of the mafia.

This report was a team effort.

It was the first example of
investigative journalism produced

by a pool of different talents.

HOW THE MAFIA KILLS

Article after article,

L'Ora stunned its readership
and the authorities...

GENERAL MAFIA

...who at the time...

JOURNALIST FOR L'ORA

...denied the existence of the mafia

and especially the relationship
between the mafia and politics.

DANGEROUS!

With this group of journalists
and educated men,

L'Ora, took on a more leading role

during the most important year
in my 20-year leadership, 1958.

6 A.M. TWO BOMBS AT L'ORA

It was the year of the Milazzo Operation

as well as the mafia's dynamite attack
against our newspaper.

IF YOUR REPORTING GOES ON,
WE WILL BLOW OUT THE BRAINS

OF THESE REPORTERS:

The first round
of our battle against the mafia...

GOVERNMENT DEBATE
ON L'ORA ATTACK

...ending with the attack on our offices,
didn't turn out as they had hoped.

ATTACK SHOWS MAFIA EXISTS

Our report resonated internationally.

PRESS ASSOCIATION
CONDEMNS L'ORA ATTACK

MAFIA BEHIND EXPLOSION

Public outcry and political acts
followed...

INDIGNATION AFTER
ATTACK ON L'ORA

...culminating years later in
the creation of the Anti-Mafia Commission.

WAVE OF INDIGNATION
FOLLOWING ATTACK ON L'ORA

The newspaper's response
was to continue with the investigation.

EX-DIRECTOR ITALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY

Because the explosion was the result

of the investigation by L'Ora,

which was a very important investigation
into the mafia.

It was a front-line newspaper,

because it attacked
the criminal powers head-on.

It was also the newspaper that exposed,
through documented evidence,

the relationship between politics
and organized crime.

Many of the newspaper's reports
were used

to inform the work
of the first Anti-Mafia Commission.

Collaborations came from varied sources,
some even political.

The first I remember were with
Gilberto Nanetti, Mauro De Mauro,

Roberto Ciuni
and Gioacchino Lanza Tommasi.

Nanetti did not stay with us very long.

He left us with happy memories
and a lesson:

The mafia should also be fought
courageously and creatively

through ridicule.

Something unimaginable at the time.

THE STORY OF CALOGERO LUPARA

EPISODE ONE
HE GOES OUT EVERY FRIDAY

"I DON'T KNOW A THING"
"WE WEREN'T THERE" "I WASN'T THERE"

"I SWEAR ON THEIR LIVES
I'VE NEVER HAD CHILDREN"

"HE SAID SOMETHING"
"HE TALKS TOO MUCH!"

"I KNOW NOTHING, I WASN'T THERE."
"SOPHIA LOREN OR MARILYN MONROE?"

EPISODE TWO
BY NANET AND ATTALO

"IT STINKS OF GONE-OFF WET NURSE MILK"
"SHAME YOU'RE ONLY DEAF!"

"HERE'S TO BEING ON THE RUN"
FOR A FAMILY'S DUAL MOURNING

PEPE KNEW EVERYTHING
NOW HE'S DISAPPEARED

"IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE LESS DISCIPLINED!"

"A" FOR ABDUCT
"B" FOR BLASPHEMY

"THANK YOU FATHER, THAT BLESSING
SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR THREE DAYS"

"IF YOU SAY 'MEOW' YOU'RE DEAD"

EPISODE FIVE

SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS EPISODES

"VOTE FOR DON CALÒ, OR"

"HE'S UNDER THE WEATHER, BUT NO FEVER"
"THANK GOODNESS"

FAT CRAZY MAN

EPISODE SIX

"ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?"

Gilberto Nanetti
had invented a new language,

which was aggressive
and based on irony.

He was ahead of his time,

doing what we would see in the 1970s
from Giuseppe Impastato on Radio Aut.

This style became widespread.

The comics also illustrated the news.

Cris Mancuso was very much part of that,

who was a writer at the newspaper,

as well as Etrio Fidora,
who was co-editor and editor.

Great artists played their part too.

I would especially highlight Bruno Caruso.

He would produce his sketches...

CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS EXPEL CIANCIMINO

...which all had
strong political connotations.

In one of these cartoons,

he brought together numerous
well-known personalities of the time.

It was called "Hurrah for Sicily!"

and it showed public figures
around mafia boss Luciano Leggio.

These comic strips caused
a lot of trouble for the newspaper,

and for Bruno Caruso himself.

Vittorio Nisticò had received
one defamation suit too many,

so a substitute managing editor
was appointed, Etrio Fidora.

It was the first and perhaps only time
in the history of Italian journalism

that a journalist had been
suspended from their profession

for having published

those comic strips and those reports

on the mafia and politics.

PALERMO: THE OCTOPUS, THE CROW,
THE FALCON, THE SNAKE'S HEAD

After the summer of 1961,
I became editor of Il Paese in Rome,

where I got involved
in a rather reckless situation,

leading me to return
to my home, L'Ora.

Both sets of staff were joyous.

In Rome they had gotten rid
of a sort of Sicilian alien,

with an authoritative streak
and reputation,

whilst in Palermo they rejoiced
at my return.

I had only been gone a few months,

but my return stirred
intense feelings in me,

some of them new.

Being far away,
I realized that a Sicilian identity

had profoundly penetrated...

my existence.

I was marked by it.

I realized Sicily was my small homeland...

and that even the link
with my journalistic family

was founded on a comradery
that was completely Sicilian.

Meanwhile a talented journalist
was emerging, Salvo Licata.

A writer and guitarist

who embodied the rebellious nature
of "the dark city",

working class Palermo,
where he had grown up.

Within my personal categorization
of Sicilian identity,

he wasn't a Sicilian of the open sea,

but rather a Sicilian of the shore,

incapable of indifference,

like so many I've known and loved.

Licata played the guitar and sang.

He went to Rome to become
an actor in shows and movies.

He met Carlo Levi in Rome
who wrote him a letter of recommendation,

which is how it worked.

JOURNALIST FOR L'ORA

The letter was addressed to my father,
who introduced him to Nisticò.

He suggested Nisticò hire him,

because he had talent
coming out of his ears.

My father's first article was bizarre

A TURTLE BY NIGHT

because it was about a woman
who thought she was a turtle.

When he told my mother about it...

JOURNALIST FOR L'ORA

...she said, "Your editor must be crazy
if he let you publish this."

But Nisticò was a genius,
he knew that my father was different,

capable of telling the stories
of different neighborhoods.

So when Pasolini came to Palermo,

Nisticò said only my father
was to show him round, which he did.

My father told him stories of the city.

These reports were told like stories,
they were wonderful investigative pieces.

The first was about working class boys.

FIELDS, VINEYARDS AND GARDENS
REPLACED BY APARTMENT BLOCKS

He wrote about his youth,
his friends and what they talked about.

GOODBYE WORKING CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS

He did one article
about his friends who were thieves...

CRIME JOURNALIST FOR L'ORA

...as if it were any other profession.

They were truly splendid reports.

They say an article needs
a strong first and last paragraph,

and the rest isn't important.

His opening paragraphs were striking.

"Working class neighborhoods
in Palermo are, or were,

joyful by definition,

like the cold is biting
and death is blind."

"Their names confirm their cheerfulness:

Villa Grazia, Sette Cannoli,
Acqua Santa, Croce Verde."

"Or they are inexplicable: Brancaccio,
Tommaso Natale, Uditore, Cruillas."

"Even those names
are mysteriously joyful."

He loved the working class neighborhoods,

their culture and way of speaking.

So when he wrote about them in the paper,

he didn't dispassionately report the news,

he wrote with the passion and love
these marginalized people deserved.

He gave them a voice
they otherwise wouldn't have had.

When he wrote the song "Suk el Balarà",

"I know the smells of this city,

the stones of its buildings
scarred by time."

When he writes about Palermo
in the song "Palermo Tu",

it's like a fresco of Palermo,
a testament of his love for the city.

I remember one evening at the newspaper,

because I would write my reviews
having been to the theatre,

arriving at the offices at 1:30 a.m.
when everything was closed,

with just one security guard on duty,
who looked incredibly like Togliatti.

Anyway, one evening I was there
writing a review of Don Giovanni,

and out comes Licata,
which was strange because it was late,

and he asked me with a sly smile,
"What are you doing?"

I said,
"A review on Don Giovanni."

"While you've been writing your review,
three people have been killed!"

I know the smells

Of this city

The stones of its buildings

Scarred by time

Time that passes in vain through here

Who can bear the Ballarò Market?

Then came the Belice earthquake.

A death count of 232,
623 injured and 40,000 displaced.

ENTIRE TOWNS DESTROYED
BY SICILY EARTHQUAKE

HUNDREDS DEAD

SEVENTEEN DEAD SO FAR
A NIGHTMARE IN PALERMO

The region and the state turned out
to be completely incompetent...

GIBELLINA DEVASTATED
FIRST PHOTOS

...be that in organising rescue efforts,
or initial urgent reconstruction.

EARTHQUAKE IN PALERMO
IN THE WAKE OF TERROR

DEATH COUNT RISES
12,000 DISPLACED

There was a risk
of mass exodus from Sicily.

A TRIP TO THE APOCALYPSE
"WE HAVEN'T EATEN FOR TWO DAYS"

A feeling of desperation
was shared amongst the people...

RESCUE EFFORTS: A BROKEN MACHINE

...stranded in the countryside,

survivors of towns razed to the ground...

A DESERT OF RUBBLE:
GIBELLINA AND POGGIOREALE

...now displaced in tent villages
and welcome centers.

A feeling borne not only
out of the unbelievable destruction,

but out of a lack of trust
and sense of abandonment.

THE SHAME OF BELICE

There was nonetheless
and immense wave of solidarity.

Above all,
a will to resist emerged

in order to survive and rebuild.

NO MORE EMIGRATION
TO THE NORTH!

CAREFUL!
OUTLAWED!

EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
MARCH TOWARDS PALERMO

During the Belice earthquake,
L'Ora promoted a series of initiatives,

such as the construction of a school
for the children of Monte Vago,

an ancient town turned to rubble.

I remember vividly when Bruno Carbone,
sent to report on the devastated areas,

returned with a series of colored drawings
found in the rubble...

STAYING QUIET
MAKES YOU A MURDERER

...of an elementary school.

We published the drawings
with the headline:

"Monte Vago was my beautiful town."

20 DRAWINGS FOUND IN RUBBLE
OF SCHOOL IN MONTE VAGO

To increase contributions to the appeal,

we gave publication rights
to a few high-circulation newspapers.

Exactly one year later,
the school was standing again.

It was the first reinforced building built
following the destruction of Belice.

RETALIATION OR FEAR

CAR FOUND BUT NOT OUR COLLEAGUE
THE HOURS OF ANGUISH

HELP US

The De Mauro tragedy
turned our small world upside down.

We were overcome
by a terrible, absurd emptiness.

He vanished into thin air.

The most lacerating experience...

was realizing that
despite giving everything

in terms of work,
rage and suffering,

we were unable to truly understand
what had happened.

We felt this professional impotence...

which was annoying and draining.

Mauro De Mauro was another
of the legends at L'Ora,

because he was considered
the best reporter

of anti-mafia crime news.

He had a glorious past as a reporter,

but a less glorious past
in terms of personal politics,

because he had been a fascist

and had been in the Decima Flottiglia MAS,
the Fascist regime's commando unit,

after the fall of Mussolini.

Nisticò knew about
De Mauro's fascist past,

but he still put his trust in him

and gave him a leadership role,

because Mauro De Mauro
wrote several pieces against the mafia.

It was another example of Nisticò's
extraordinary open-mindedness.

As editor of a communist newspaper,

he hired someone who had been
in the Italian Social Republic

and allowed him to work freely,
without censorship.

He really trusted him.

I think De Mauro paid that trust back,
because he fulfilled his duties loyally.

"WE'RE FOLLOWING ALL LEADS
BUT WITHOUT RESULTS"

There were two main leads.

One was regarding his relationships,
or at least acquaintances...

ANTI-MAFIA COMMISSION INVESTIGATING
DE MAURO'S DISAPPEARANCE

...with the subversive community

SEVEN DAYS AND NO RESULTS
IN SEARCH FOR DE MAURO

which at the time was bringing
the country close to a middle-class coup.

NOTHING YET ON DE MAURO

ALL ITALIAN JOURNALISTS OFFER REWARD
FOR FINDING DE MAURO

The other lead was his commission
by the director Francesco Rosi

to carry out an investigation

into the murder of Enrico Mattei.

I think that...

WRITER AND COLLABORATOR FOR L'ORA

...Mauro de Mauro said the right thing
to the wrong man,

or the wrong thing to the right man.

I am referring to Mattei and the work
Mauro was doing for Rosi.

This small investigation into
the people surrounding Mattei.

I think Mauro found someone
when he was asking around,

and maybe inadvertently,

he found the right lead.

The person in question
would have panicked.

Then Mauro probably went back
to talk to that person,

making the person panic even more.

Mauro de Mauro died for knowing
something he didn't know.

THE DE MAURO CASE:
DISAPPEARING IN PALERMO

The commitment of L'Ora to its work

came at a high cost in blood,

with no precedents
in any other newspaper or publication.

There were three deaths
between 1960 and 1972.

In 1960,

the correspondent from Termini Imerese,
Cosimo Cristina, was killed.

He was a young man

who reported on mafia incidents

when no one was even talking
about the mafia yet.

In 1970,
Mauro de Mauro disappeared.

In 1972,

the correspondent from Ragusa,
Giovanni Spampinato, was killed.

A young reporter
who in the suburbs of Ragusa,

had followed the journalistic model
of L'Ora.

Of course the murdered journalists
caused us great pain,

but their deaths also confirmed
the importance of our work.

Of course we were afraid,
only a reckless person would not be.

But we had all chosen that profession,
and chosen to do it a certain way.

We were driven
by a sense of responsibility,

to ourselves, our colleagues
and our readers.

That attitude continued,

even in the run-up to the Maxi Trial

and the mafia war in the 1980s,

when the reporters at L'Ora were
threatened, intimidated and pressured,

in a very serious way.

But we kept going,

convinced of our profession and our duty.

We could have taken a step back,
but nobody did.

Despite the difficult times,
the staff proved worthy of their duty.

Between 1972 and 1975,

L'Ora was more creative than ever
and grew in popularity.

A Northern newspaper even described L'Ora

as the most cinematic Italian newspaper
in the world.

More than the Corriere della Sera,
which had featured in Bellocchio's film.

THE FASCISTS HAD ALREADY THREATENED HIM

During those years...

THE DRAMA OF THE VINCI TRIAL

...three generations of journalists
from my 21 years as editor

worked side by side.

ITALY'S POLITICAL LANDSCAPE HAS CHANGED

Vittorio oversaw three generations
of journalists.

His generation,
which was still fully functioning.

Then the second generation,

whose two shining lights
were Salvo Licata and Mario Genco.

Then the third generation,
which was my generation.

Some were a bit older than me,
but we all started in the early 1970s.

There was a group of "older" managers,
who were actually in their forties.

Then there were us youngsters,
who within the newspaper sought

a place to bring together our politics,
culture and desire to report.

FREE VIETNAM
PEACE IN THE WORLD

It was an enlightening
atmosphere for us,

which championed principles,

be that anti-mafia or anti-fascist.

We were proud to say we worked for L'Ora,

even if there was no money,
or equipment...

We were limited at all levels,

but we felt it was honorable,

that's the word that comes to mind

to be a part of that group of people.

WOMEN SEARCHING FOR THEMSELVES
BUT THEY ARE NOT DOLLS

HOW DIVORCE WILL WORK

THE WEARY WIFE

THE UNHAPPY FAMILY

YOU'RE THE "ABNORMAL" ONES

NEITHER A BABE
OR A MATRIARCH

FREE IN MATERNITY
PROTAGONISTS IN SOCIETY

EMANCIPATION CHANGES LIVES

It was an incredibly strict newspaper.

Everything was checked.

There were fierce debates,

and no excuses were accepted.

There were spiritual hierarchies,

which weren't to be violated
under any circumstances.

If you were the new person
your opinion counted the least.

You had to remain respectfully quiet

before this inner circle

with the mythical Nisticò at its center.

That inner circle was made up
of Farinella, Marcello Cimino,

Giuliana Saladino,
Aldo Costa,

Cris Mancuso...

I remember Giuliana Saladino was one
of the "senators" of the newspaper,

along with her husband Marcello Cimino.

She was the worst "teacher"
at the newspaper,

even worse than Nisticò.

Nisticò would call you into his office...

shut the door and let you have it.

But she did it in public,
in front of everyone.

She would say,
"This is terrible, nobody uses that word!"

But she was fantastic,
and thanks to her we progressed,

we took huge steps forward.

Nisticò understood I didn't know
where to start,

having just left high school.

So he said to me,
"Let's do something different.

Starting today, you'll go with 'Ciccio'."

He meant Francesco "Ciccio" La Licata,
the "prince of crime reporting."

"You don't have to do anything,
just observe what he does."

During the first three days,
I visited hospitals with La Licata,

who didn't say a single word to me.

That shows how hard
learning the ropes was.

You had to pass these

incredible tests of stamina.

Just to be clear,
L'Ora was indeed a family,

a family with quarrels, conflict,
harshness and controversies.

It was not idyllic,
working at L'Ora was hard.

There were big internal conflicts,
like in all newspapers.

It was a small paper
with big personalities that clashed.

So what did we learn?

We learned quickly,
from a young age,

to deal with big important issues.

Sicily has always been
an extraordinary and dramatic hub

for politics, economy,
culture and social relations.

We were at the heart of it.

All taken into account,
L'Ora was a good newspaper,

due to Nisticò's ability as its helmsman,

as well as the others that came after him.

It was well written.

It was multifaceted.

It lived because of its independence

and died because of its independence.

And it was the only democratic publication
in southern Italy, truth be told.

L'Ora was more than
a simple opposition newspaper.

Its peculiarity was that
it operated in an area of the country

where democratic life
came harder than in other places.

All of this could only
make our work more dramatic,

but it also shaped our journalistic style
as truthful and research-based.

L'Ora was a very important newspaper,

so those who worked there were very lucky.

I left L'Ora to work for Il Messaggero

having already come to Rome
as a correspondent for L'Ora.

I remember feeling apprehensive,

as you do when starting a new role.

But after two days the feeling passed,
because I realized I was fully equipped.

There was nothing my new bosses
could ask me that I couldn't do.

I learned everything at L'Ora.

As an afternoon paper under Nisticò,

L'Ora sold almost the same number of
copies as the main morning newspaper.

That says a lot.

It tells you it was a good newspaper
that had gained people's trust.

People waited to read L'Ora
to find out what had happened,

because official news sources
didn't tell the whole story.

When they celebrated
the 40-year anniversary of Repubblica,

everyone rightly praised Scalfari

for having changed
the structure of newspapers.

He got rid of page three,
cultural news became central

And the greatest compliment they paid him

was that he tried to compress
a weekly magazine into a daily paper.

Very comfortably,

I can say that since 1958,

that's exactly what Nisticò was doing.

Culture was no longer just on page three,
but throughout the newspaper.

His ambition from the 1960's onwards,

thanks to his extraordinary journalists,

was to bring out a daily paper
that resembled a weekly magazine.

Indeed,

we can say this because
we have the documents to back it up.

Nisticò was one of the great editors
of Italian journalism.

After many years, I liked to remember
that at least my last moments at L'Ora

hadn't been amongst headlines
of terror and death,

as had been the case for so many years,

but with the newspaper and its staff

at the center
of an unprecedented civil movement.

Culture took to the streets,
to fight for good government.

Consolo moved to Palermo
during the first months of 1975.

I had asked him to give us a hand
in view of June's local elections,

in which Leonardo Sciascia was running
for the Palermo City Council.

His election was strongly symbolic.

Sciascia represented L'Ora

and L'Ora had given its all.

CANDIDATE L. SCIASCIA

"WHY BOTHER?"

SCIASCIA: WHY I STAND WITH
THE ITALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY

A SILENT MAN WITH A LOT TO SAY

SCIASCIA INTERVIEWED BY STUDENTS

"L'Ora is a communist newspaper
but it allows me to express myself

with a freedom hard to find
in other Italian newspapers.

Regarding my being left-wing,
I certainly am, and without subtlety."

Leonardo Sciascia

LAST PLEA BY PARTIES

FORTY MILLION VOTE

PALERMO VOTES LEFT

ITALY'S POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
HAS CHANGED

ITALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY
WINS OVER 11 MILLION VOTES

I'm stepping down as editor
of this newspaper after 20 years.

It's not a painless decision.

If L'Ora has had a positive impact
during these years

on the fight for the renewal of Sicily,

it's fundamentally due
to the commitment of its journalists,

and the trust placed in their hands
by the growing number of readers.

I will always be grateful to both,

but especially grateful to Sicily.

A place I will be leaving temporarily,

and where I have found
my definitive citizenship.

It's impossible to share
in this island's fate for 20 years

without it leaving an indelible mark.

I am a man of the South

and I've discovered
Palermo is in my blood.

I have seen how this nation's rulers
have failed to unite the country.

But Sicily is an extraordinary
cultural realm

that incessantly brings everything
back to a human dimension.

Everything is abstract,

if it doesn't fulfil the reasoning,
needs and demands of humankind.