Indro Montanelli

Italian journalist and author of more than 60 books; the recipient of numerous awards including the World Press Review’s International Editor of the Year, 1994, and Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award, 1996. Montanelli believed in journalism without constraint and was the founder of two newspapers. He attended the University of Florence where he studied law and political science. He became a freelance reporter for Paris Soir and the United Press but eventually joined the Milan daily, "Il Corriere della Sera," in 1939. He was a member of the ruling National Fascist Party and served in the Italian campaign in Abyssinia. He served as a war correspondent in Spain, Finland, Albania, Greece and Norway.

His outspoken nature and objective reporting style first got him into trouble in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War when he was expelled from the journalists’ union and forced into exile. He returned to Italy two years later, but in 1943, he was arrested by the Nazis and sentenced to death for an article he had written about Benito Mussolini and his lover, Clara Petacci. After ten months in prison, he escaped and headed for Switzerland. After the war ended, he returned to the newspaper and became one of the most respected journalists in Italy. He left the paper in 1973 to found his own conservative daily, "Il Giornale."

On 2 June 1977, while walking to his Milan office, Montanelli was shot four times in the legs. The attack, by members of the extreme leftist Red Brigades movement, prompted him to launch a campaign against terrorism.

Montanelli died at age 92, on 22 July 2001, 17:30 MEDT, Milano, Italy.