Abstract
In the years between the two World Wars, Italian publishing houses Rizzoli, Mondadori, and Vitagliano worked on the model of a specific ‘popular’ weekly. They built up a combination of periodicals constituting a complete and integrated offer, experimenting marketing strategies — such as frequency, distribution, price, and advertising message — and editorial formulae capable of attracting a large readership. This article analyzes these strategies and formulae in weeklies, so-called rotocalchi, such as Il Secolo Illustrato, Novella, Lei (by Rizzoli), Le Grandi Firme, Grazia (by Mondadori) and Excelsior (by Vitagliano). As the analysis shows, their publishers and editors focused on a product based on both a precise interpretation of the concept of ‘popularity’ and an interpretation of the expression ‘popular culture’ that was different from that of the past, when ‘popular’ cultural products were such because they were destined for the uneducated and less well to-do classes. Rizzoli, Mondadori, and Vitagliano abandoned this static view and the hierarchy of cultural systems and adopted a different, more modern, more flexible, and more dynamic approach. In their case, rather than being associated with a distinct sector of the audience, the popular cultural product looked towards an undifferentiated group of readers: it was ‘for everyone’. In this meaning, ‘popular’ no longer had a qualitative significance — ‘for the people’ — but a quantitative one: ‘as widespread as possible’. By the same token, they did not limit themselves to pleasing an audience that already existed, but tended to ‘build’ their own, winning over those who were not yet part of it.
Highlights
Angelo Rizzoli and Arnoldo Mondadori were both born in 1889, and both started out poor — the former was an orphan whose unemployed father had committed suicide, the latter was the son of a travelling and illiterate cobbler; both were self-taught before becoming Italy’s most important publishers in the 1930s
They built up a combination of periodicals constituting a complete and integrated offer, experimenting marketing strategies — such as frequency, distribution, price, and advertising message — and editorial formulae capable of attracting a large readership. This article analyzes these strategies and formulae in weeklies, so-called rotocalchi, such as Il Secolo Illustrato, Novella, Lei, Le Grandi Firme, Grazia and Excelsior. Their publishers and editors focused on a product based on both a precise interpretation of the concept of ‘popularity’and an interpretation of the expression ‘popular culture’that was different from that of the past, when ‘popular’ cultural products were such because they were destined for the uneducated and less wellto-do classes
Mondadori, and Vitagliano were the leading publishers of rotocalchi; all had their headquarters in Milan, publishing and printing capital, especially of popular publishing
Summary
Angelo Rizzoli and Arnoldo Mondadori were both born in 1889, and both started out poor — the former was an orphan whose unemployed father had committed suicide, the latter was the son of a travelling and illiterate cobbler; both were self-taught before becoming Italy’s most important publishers in the 1930s.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
