HAPPENED TODAY – March 5, 1876, the Corriere della Sera was born

Corriere della Sera turns 144 years old. It was in fact March 5 of the distant 1876 when, in the late afternoon of that Sunday, the first issue of the glorious newspaper founded by the journalist of Neapolitan origin was published Eugenio Torelli Viollier, who directed it until 1898. The first number was announced by newsboys in Piazza della Scala in Milan and carried the date 5-6 March, to underline the validity of the newspaper for the evening of the first day but also for the morning of the day following. The Sunday for the launch was not chosen by chance: it was the first Sunday of Lent and traditionally the Milanese newspapers did not go out on that day. The Corriere therefore took advantage of the lack of competition but in order not to antagonize the environment, it donated the proceeds of the first issue to charity. The foliation was four pages, printed in 15.000 copies.

A prestigious place was chosen as the headquarters of the new newspaper, the very central Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, even if later the "historical" headquarters has become that of via Solferino, always in the heart of Milan, a stone's throw from the Brera district. At the beginning the whole newspaper was gathered in two rooms and was made up of three editors (in addition to the director) and four workers. Torelli Viollier's three collaborators were actually friends of him. The rest is known history: over time the Corriere has become and still is the first or second of the most popular Italian newspapers, and belongs to the Rcs Mediagroup publishing group, listed on the Stock Exchange and with a share capital of 40 million euros. The publisher Urbano Cairo is the first shareholder.

Over the years, Il Corriere has had directors of the caliber of Luigi Albertini, who brought it to its current prestige before the Fascist period, Giovanni Spadolini, who later became Prime Minister, and later Piero Ottone, Franco Di Bella, Alberto Cavallari, Ugo Stille , Paolo Mieli and on several occasions Ferruccio De Bortoli. Today the director is Attilio Fontana.

However, few people know that a newspaper with the name Corriere della Sera was actually founded even before the current "newspaper of via Solferino": in 1866 in Turin, a twenty-three year old named Giuseppe Rovelli tried it, but after only two issues (1 August and 2 August) the newspaper ceased publication due to lack of funds.