Italian journalist Curzio Maltese
died of cancer at the age of 63 on Sunday.
Long a mainstay at liberal daily la Repubbica, where he had a
column, Maltese moved to Domani after an ownership change in
2021.
Born in Milan into a working class family in 1959, Maltese grew
up in Italy's once Communist and workers' stronghold of Sesto
San Giovanni.
He started out writing about sport, one of his great passions
along with the arts and politics, and also wrote for La Stampa.
But la Repubblica was his home from 1995 to 2021, where he
penned witty and caustic editorials against three-time
ex-premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi and his conflicts
of interests.
He also made two documentaries, on starchitect Renzo Piano and
singer-songwriter Paolo Conte, and wrote TV satire for comics
Maurizio Crozza and Enrico Bertolino.
But his name was especially linked to the cult anarchic comedy
of Corrado Guzzantiand his iconic show Il Caso Scafroglia.
Tributes flowed in including one from his former editor Enzo
Mauro who said "ciao Curzio Maltese, journalism as talent and
passion", and another from progressive journalist Gad Lerner,
who said "Curzio Maltese was a world-class journalist, an artist
of journalism, a wonderful friend, a proletarian with a thirst
for beauty, culture, justice and good times".
Conservative journalist Augusto Minzolini said: "we didn't agree
about much, if anything, but his writing was amongst the best of
my generation".
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