Italian reportage and journalism during the Great War

After William H. Russell, the Irish reporter for The Times of London and Ferdinando Petruccelli della Gattina, the forerunner of American reportage and correspondent for La Presse – defined by Indro Montanelli as “the most brilliant Italian journalist of the nineteenth century”– the twentieth century saw protagonists Luigi Barzini and Arnaldo Fraccaroli, both war correspondents for Corriere della Sera. These two correspondents are in the focus of this study that seeks to trace the career path, the style and the descriptive accuracy of the most important Italian reporters on that terrible occasion. Barzini, who had already witnessed some conflicts from 1899 for the newspaper from Solferino street – and continued to describe the wars until 1921 – had a great capacity for work that allowed him to write his articles at night after a day spent at the front. Reports, rich in detail and wrapped in an aura of unmatched descriptions, were written by an exceptional journalist, whose value was confirmed by the major European powers of the time through awards and honorary titles. During the war Barzini published several essays and memoirs including Scene della grande guerra (1915), Al Fronte (1915) and La guerra d’Italia. Dal Trentino al Carso (1917). The intention of this paper is to show, through the stories of Barzini and Fraccaroli, the intensity of the commitment of the Italian journalists, who were recognized among the most precise and brilliant ones.