Interview: Indro Montanelli

At 85, Indro Montanelli is the grand old man of the Italian press. Today he edits what another journalist has called‘the nearest thing to an independent paper in Italy’. Sitting at his desk, crouched behind the same Olivetti typewriter that he started out with 70 years ago, he was writing a leader for La Voce, Italy's newest daily paper, which he recently set up in Milan. Fifteen years ago he started II Giornale, resigning as editor last Christmas, after a row with his proprietor, Silvio Berlusconi. For 15 years, Berlusconi was the ideal proprietor. It was only when he developed political ambitions that he started to interfere with the editorials, says Montanelli. He was interviewed by Joanna Coles.