Our history | GEDI Gruppo Editoriale

Always innovative: the story of the Gedi Group

The GEDI Group is the result of publishing experience, newspapers and professionals that have forged the history of Italian and international journalism. Created in 2017 from the merger of Espresso Group and ITEDI, GEDI brings together the inheritance from various areas, united by a common and distinctive characteristic: a marked aptitude for innovation and constant attention to content quality.

The evolution of technology and the application of innovative solutions have always been part of our history. In 1976 la Repubblica, the newspaper created under the leadership of Eugenio Scalfari, was the first Italian newspaper printed in the Berliner format which at the time was the prerogative of tabloids. La Stampa, which is among the oldest newspapers in the Group, was also the first daily to have its web domain as well as offering its entire archive in digitalised form.

Attention to content quality is at the heart of editorial projects that have led to the creation of various publications and vertical hubs such as Green&Blue, Health, Taste, La Zampa and Italian Tech. Quality entertainment, a passion for music and listener engagement are also the foundations on which the Group's radio stations were built, starting with Radio Deejay, followed by Radio Capital and M2O.

The constant focus on the future and the aptitude for innovation still drive the development of new digital initiatives today, enriching even further the products and services which GEDI offers its readers and listeners.

The milestones in our history

The first newspapers

1867

Vittorio Bersezio and Casimiro Favale found La Gazzetta Piemontese, a paper which is the forerunner to La Stampa. Its motto is «Frangar non flectar» (“I break but I don’t bend”)

1895

Under editor Luigi Roux, La Gazzetta Piemontese takes on its current name: La Stampa. It is one of the first papers in Italy to use Linotype, a machine invented in the United States which speeds up the printing process.

1900

Founded by Oreste Garda in 1893 as a register of announcements and adverts, La Sentinella del Canavese soon starts to give over space to local news and events connected to Ivrea. The success of the new paper, together with other publications from Garda, the publishing house, leads it to take part in the 1900 Paris Exposition.

20th century innovations

1906

Thanks to an agreement with the New York Herald Tribune, La Stampa is the first Italian paper to publish news coming through on telegraph wires from around the world, in the same way as “The Times” of London and “Le Matin” of Paris.

1934

The “Phototelegraphic Station” of La Stampa is set up to transmit and receive photographs by telegraph (“telephotos”), reducing the delivery times for photographs which until then had been delivered by airmail.

1955

In 1955 at the intuition of the editor of La Stampa Giulio De Benedetti, the Specchio dei Tempi comes into being, a daily column in which readers expressed opinions, reported cases of injustice and, above all, offered help for people in difficulty. Nowadays Specchio is a foundation with charitable projects in Italy and abroad, supported by thousands of donors

1973

La Stampa makes an agreement with “Le Monde”, “The Times” and “Die Welt” for the publication of the shared supplement, Europa. This operation lets readers of the Turin-based newspaper have broader information on foreign affairs, thanks to the quality of the newspapers involved. La Stampa - Consultazione Archivio (archiviolastampa.it) - Quell’occhio aperto sul mondo - La Stampa

1976

La Repubblica is founded, the first Italian newspaper printed in the Berliner format. Among the founders are Eugenio Scalfari and Carlo Caracciolo, previously publisher of the weekly magazine Espresso.

Radio and internet

1982

Radio Deejay is founded and is now leader in the radio segment with numerous successful programs and an average of over 5 million listeners a day. With the purchase of Radio Capital and the more recent m2o the radio entertainment hub Elemedia will come into being.

1996

La Stampa opens its own web domain www.lastampa.it.

1997

www.repubblica.it, goes online the first publishing website with its own separate editorial leadership and contents compared to the accompanying newspaper.

1998

The Italian edition of “National Geographic” comes into being and will later be supplemented with the quarterly magazine Traveller.

1999

Kataweb is set up, a company which operates to develop new publishing products and specific online activities. The company quickly rises to lead Internet operators in Italy in the first years of the 21st century.

2000

Mymovies.it is set up, the leading Italian website for film and cinema content which from 2013 joins the Group.

2005

The first edition of Deejay Ten is organised, the fun run promoted by Radio Deejay which every year brings together thousands of participants from all of Italy.

2012

La Repubblica delle Idee starts, the first itinerant Festival organised by a national newspaper, with legs in some of Italy’s main cities. In the same year the new offices of La Stampa are inaugurated with their innovative circular-shaped editorial office and Spazio La Stampa, the first museum in Italy dedicated to the history of a newspaper. La Stampa also receives PEFC certification for the use of recycled paper, which makes it the first “green” paper in Italy.

GEDI and the digital future

2017

GEDI Gruppo Editoriale is created from the merger of Gruppo Espresso and ITEDI, the publisher of La Stampa.

2017

La Stampa celebrates 150 years with a series of special initiatives including the event “The future of newspapers” which brings together in Turin some of the most important editors and heads of newspapers worldwide such as “Bloomberg”, “The Economist”, “Financial Times”, “Bild”, “The New York Times”, “Le Monde”, “Hindustan Times”, and “South China Morning Post”.

2020

Green&Blue and Salute are presented, the first two vertical GEDI hubs dedicated to the environment and medicine. Subsequently, also Il Gusto, Moda e Beauty and Italian Tech are launched linked respectively to the world of food and drink, fashion and technology.

2021

The GEDI Group continues its digital transformation. At the start of the year new important online and social media portals are bought, such as alFemminile.it, and the whole shareholding of Huffington Post Italia is bought, a partnership started nine years earlier with the US group of the same name.

2022

One Podcast is set up, the mobile app which brings together all the audio output of the GEDI newspapers and radio stations enhanced by exclusive distribution rights for the catalogue of iHeart Media, the no. 1 podcast publisher in the world. With One Podcast the GEDI Group offers the Italian public the richest and most diversified schedule of audio information and entertainment available on the national market.

To find out more

Archive of La Stampa

Repubblica, from 1976 to date

The film made for La Stampa’s 150th anniversary

40 years of Radio DJ: Forty Forty, the podcast