In 2004, Oliver Bennett a journalist for the Independent newspaper in the UK, visited Barga to write a long article about the Pesce e patate festa – the fish and chips festival. (That article can be read in full here) During his travels in and around the city to research background information for his article he called in to the office of Il Giornale di Barga in Barga Vecchia.
This is what he wrote in the final article:” …. Luca Galeotti, editor of Il Giornale di Barga, a large-format newspaper with typography (and an office) straight out of the 1890s, its card index shows that a fifth of the subscribers are Barga diaspora.”
If Oliver came back to Barga this week he would have found a completely different office, no longer from the 1890’s but one that has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
The Giornale is now no longer just a large format newspaper published monthly but also a very vibrant website – il giornal di barga online, with a large daily following.
From the barganews archives – an article last year – The newspaper Il Giornale di Barga is the longest running newspaper in the province of Lucca and this week it celebrated it’s 60th year in print. Founded by Bruno Sereni on the 29th May 1949 it has been published on a monthly basis ever since. Last year the direttore of the Giornale di Barga, Luca Galeotti launched the Giornale di Barga On line website and so moved smartly in the digital age.
Images on the site and the newspaper are now produced by Mac computers, Canon digital cameras and other smaller video cameras which have now been added to the “toolbox” enabling Luca Galleotti, Direttore responsabile and Caporedattore, Maria Elena Caproni to prepare mixed media articles for the site in double quick time.
Not just a digital revolution but also a visual one as this week in keeping with the tradition of decorating over Easter, Luca and Maria Elena were changing over the colours in their office and making a bold new stand.
Click on the link below to hear Luca talking (in Italiano) about the decorations and the choice of colour: