The Making of Il Giorno: Matilde Serao’s Letters to Luigi Luzzatti

This chapter focuses on a series of letters that Matilde Serao wrote to Venetian politician and former Prime Minister Luigi Luzzatti in the years between 1904 and 1910. Written during her tenure as editor of the daily newspaper she founded in 1904, Il Giorno, Serao’s letters confirm her strong will and unique personality, while allowing a privileged glimpse into the practical and financial challenges of running a newspaper. The correspondence reveals Serao’s frequent appeals to politicians and bankers to obtain the financial backing she needed to run her newspaper and offer a rare glance into the “behind the scenes” activity of Serao as an entrepreneur. They are an excellent example of Serao’s extraordinary talents as a public intellectual during Italy’s long Nineteenth Century.