L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2024 www.italoamericano.org 10 L'Italo-Americano It was a common practice at L'Ora to gift readers with inserts to enrich the daily paper, a practice later adopt- ed by many other newspa- p e r s t o b o o s t s a l e s . I t ' s important to remember that throughout the 1800s, news- paper mastheads were true graphic masterpieces. The m a s t h e a d o f L ' O r a , f o r example, was designed by Basile, the celebrated archi- tect behind some of Paler- mo's most significant artistic a n d a r c h i t e c t u r a l w o r k s , including the Teatro Massi- m o — b e g u n b y h i s f a t h e r , Giovanni, and completed by his son, Ernesto, a leading figure of the Art Nouveau style. But newspapers also cov- ered darker stories, such as t h e d i s a p p e a r a n c e o f E m a n u e l e N o t a r b a r t o l o , once the mayor of Palermo. He laid the first stone of the Teatro Massimo, initiated t h e e x t e n s i o n o f V i a L i b - ertà—the main, sweeping and prominently featured the phrase "Workers of the World, Unite!" on the left side of its masthead—a clear homage to Karl Marx; Chic, whose subtitle read "Pub- lished at the convenience of the editors"; Il Cavafango, an anti-Masonic publication from Palermo; Teatro Mas- simo, a one-issue paper con- taining an article on the life of Giuseppe Verdi by Paolo Mulè, brother of the musi- c i a n w h o c o m p o s e d t h e famous Largo—a piece still popular today, especially during religious wedding ceremonies—and who also served as editor and eventu- ally director of L'Ora until 1921. And then there was P a p i o l , f o r w h i c h t h e H . G u g g e n h e i m p u b l i s h i n g house of Zurich printed and sold promotional postcards. In fact, Guggenheim pro- duced postcards not only for Papiol but also for several P a l e r m o - b a s e d p a p e r s , including L'Ora. a v e n u e t h a t c r o s s e s t h e city—and oversaw the con- s t r u c t i o n o f y e t a n o t h e r cemetery, the Rotoli. He also created a fund for workplace accident insurance. Howev- e r , h i s r i g o r o u s b a n k i n g oversight and resistance to patronage politics made him a "problem" for some. He was kidnapped and forced to pay a large ransom for his release. But even that was not enough; while traveling by train between Termini Imerese and Trabia on Feb- ruary 1, 1893, he was mur- d e r e d w i t h t w e n t y - s e v e n stab wounds. The Mafia had claimed its first high-profile victim. As noted, the book con- sists of four volumes, and in the final volume, which cov- ers newspapers from 1890 to 1900, there is a large selec- tion of satirical publications. S o m e p a p e r s w o u l d f r e - quently change their names t o e v a d e c e n s o r s h i p . T h e cartoonists contributing to t h e s e p u b l i c a t i o n s o f t e n altered their names or used n i c k n a m e s t o a v o i d reprisals. Giuseppe Rosselli, for instance, wrote under the p s e u d o n y m s C i m a b u c o , CIM, and ROS, publishing in Papiol, Giornale di Sicilia, L'Ora, and Piff!Paff!, one of the most popular satirical p a p e r s . T h e p s e u d o n y m Scopa was used by Palermo's leading cartoonist, Umberto La Torre, who also published in books and postcards. La Torre, a son-in-law of Mario Rutelli—the esteemed sculp- tor behind the quadriga atop Palermo's Teatro Politea- ma—was an influential fig- ure in this satirical land- scape. These four volumes form a small encyclopedia of the S i c i l i a n c a p i t a l ' s h i s t o r y , offering a snapshot of a cen- tury of society, one that saw the unification of Italy and the 1848 Press Law. Indeed, this collection serves as a vade mecum for understand- ing the "big" history but, more importantly, the "little" history—the lives of every- d a y p e o p l e , a l o n g s i d e glimpses into notable figures and events. This is history as it truly happened, without the embellishments or dis- tortions of textbooks—cap- tured and reported in the m o m e n t , u n f i l t e r e d a n d uncensored. Carlo Guidotti, authors of four beautifully crafted vol- umes titled I giornali di Palermo nell'Ottocento (The Newspapers of Paler- mo in the 1800s). These four volumes, in addition to fea- turing the historical narra- t i v e c u r a t e d b y C a r l o G u i d o t t i , i n c l u d e p h o t o - g r a p h i c r e p r o d u c t i o n s o f many newspaper titles from the collection of Gesualdo Adelfio. These images are a c c o m p a n i e d b y d e t a i l e d descriptions that trace the history of each title and pro- v i d e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n n o t e s drawn from their pages. It is both fascinating and surprising to discover some of the newspaper names that no editor today would likely choose: Il Pipistrello (The Bat), Francesco Crispi (a political-artistic paper), Fra Ciro (edited by Luigi Natoli, a u t h o r o f I B e a t i P a o l i , arguably his most famous n o v e l ) ; P r i m o M a g g i o , which had only one issue T h e t i c k i n g o f t y p e w r i t e r k e y s , c o n s t a n t like the stream of thoughts racing through the mind and eyes of a reporter as they translated events witnessed just hours before into words, was the u n m i s t a k a b l e s o u n d t r a c k that filled newspaper offices until the arrival of computers and their quieter keyboards. The passion and commit - ment, however, remain the s a m e . N o w , c e l l p h o n e s , t a b l e t s , a n d l a p t o p s h a v e replaced the iconic Olivetti "Lettera 22," once the insep- arable companion of every j o u r n a l i s t a n d a s p i r i n g writer. The hum of printing presses, the smell of freshly printed newspapers, and the t h r i l l o f h o l d i n g t h e f i r s t copy, flipping through it to d o u b l e - c h e c k h e a d l i n e s — t h e s e w e r e , a n d s t i l l a r e , e x p e r i e n c e s c h e r i s h e d b y those in print journalism, even if felt in a somewhat different form today. S t e p p i n g b a c k t o t h e 1800s, I find that around a thousand newspapers were being published in Palermo alone. Granted, some lasted only a day, but others kept their newsrooms alive for much longer. Among these, the Giornale di Sicilia, still available at newsstands every day, and L'Ora, which h a d a l o n g l i f e s p a n b u t , unfortunately, ceased print- ing some years ago, stand out. These newspapers cap- tured the life of the city—its growth, its civic identity, its crimes, achievements, sports events—in short, its history. A genuine, unfiltered story, told live as it unfolded. They c h r o n i c l e d G a r i b a l d i ' s exploits, sent what could be considered "special corre- spondents," covered society news, and documented the women's fight for divorce—a f o r e r u n n e r o f f e m i n i s m . They portrayed the lives of figures like Donna Franca F l o r i o a n d h e r f a m i l y . I n reading these stories, we are taken back in time, though without nostalgia. We owe this remarkable opportunity to the publishing house Ex Libris, as well as G e s u a l d o A d e l f i o a n d TERESA DI FRESCO Palermo's history in print LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE An antique cover of one of the many newspaper that were published in Palermo in the 19th century (Photo courtesy of Teresa Di Fresco)

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