Here at the Eternally Cool Compound, we’re declared it to be Text & the City week, so all of our posts have payed homage to the written word - and what an amazing week it’s been!
We’ve seen Rome’s allure broadcast by Romantic writers and we’ve even visited the site at which the poet John Keats drew his final breath. We’ve celebrated a new novel that updates the classical gods and gives them a place in our own contemporary, as well as a old inscription that gave rise to the modern serif fonts we use on our computers daily, while still managing to find inspiration in artist Jenny Holzer’s textual projections on the Eternal City.
Today, however, our thoughts turn to the giornalio or newspaper stand, a pleasurable stop in the daily routine of every avid reader in Rome. Placed on street corners and in piazzas, these fabulous kiosks carry everything from Italian newspapers to fashion magazines to international publications. They’re loaded with movies, cds, books, and maps, as well as toys, bus tickets, and “free prizes” gained by the purchase of one glossy publication or another.
In Trastevere, the part of town where the E-Cool Compound is located, one of the most popular purchases at such a giornalio is Il Manifesto, a communist newspaper founded as a monthly review in 1969 by a collective of left-wing journalists. Il Manifesto has recently gained a reputation in Italy for its bitter and sarcastic headlines as well as its often brilliant puns, enhanced by a clever choice of photographs. For example, on the day of the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the first page of Il Manifesto featured a large photo of the newly-elected pope, along with the title The German Shepherd (see photo below).
Whether one is in agreement with the political stance taken by Il Manifesto or not, the daily newspaper is regarded almost unanimously as a notable example of creative and clever journalism. And, from this day forward it should also be regarded as a source of inspired advertising. Their newest ad campaign (see top photo) features a keyboard being used by two left hands, an assurance, no doubt, that Il Manifesto’s political stance is far left of center.
The Name, Rome, Italy
Creative Directors: Luca Albanese, Francesco Taddeucci
Art Director: Emanuele Pulvirenti
Copywriter: Filippo Testa
Photographer: Vincenzo Micarelli
Published: November 2007
