Albertini, Luigi

(1871–1941)

   The founder of modern Italian journalism, Luigi Albertini was a native of the province of Ancona. After working in London on The Times, he began his career at the Corriere della Serain 1896, and within four years he had become editor. A journalistic innovator, Albertini was a staunch critic of Giovanni Giolitti and a warm supporter of constitutional conservatives such as Sidney Sonnino and Antonio Salandra. The Corriere backed Italy’s entrance into World War I in 1915; as the voice of Italian patriotism, the paper became one of the best-selling dailies in Europe, with sales of over one million copies every day. Albertini’s political influence waned after the rise of Benito Mussolini. The Corriere opposed the March on Rome in the name of constitutional legality, and following the murder of the Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti in June 1924 openly supported the liberals and democrats who boycotted Parliament to protest Mussolini’s conduct. Mussolini, as soon as he was able, returned the favor by depriving Albertini of his editorship in 1925. Albertini, who had been made a senator in 1914, conducted a dignified policy of parliamentary opposition to the Fascist regime until his death in 1941. His three-volume Origins of the War of 1914, published posthumously in 1942–1943 and translated into English in the early 1950s, is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all works of diplomatic history.

   See also Aventine Secession; Press.