The journalist, author of major investigations into the Ustica case and that of Emanuela Orlandi, who died of a fulminating illness: he was 70 years old
Andrea Purgatori died. Journalist, screenwriter and author, born in 1953, was struck down by a fulminant illness, according to reports from his children Edoardo, Ludovico, Victoria and their family. For years at Corriere della Sera, where he had dealt with terrorism, intelligence, crime, Purgatori had dedicated himself tenaciously to the Ustica massacre of 1980, managing to keep the case open with his scoop. On La7 he successfully conducted the Atlantis program. Among his latest works is the participation in the documentary film Vatican Girl on the case of Emanuela Orlandi. Many reactions from colleagues, politicians, personalities from the world of culture and entertainment. Below, the souvenir signed by Paolo Conti.
Talking about Andrea Purgatori means starting from an essential point of his professional life which over time has become a sort of synonym for him. Thanks to his commitment and to a work that has known neither pauses nor uncertainties, the investigation into the Ustica massacre remained open.
Andrea Purgatori has revealed the lies and omissions of those who carried forward the thesis of a bomb that exploded on board the Itavia which on June 27, 1980 was traveling with 81 people on board, revealing how the disaster had been caused by the impact with a missile. And always remaining at the side of the families of the victims and above all guaranteeing the search for the truth. This is why Purgatori-Ustica has become a true synonym, a professional brand of extraordinary continuity, of the desire to get to the truth, to defend those (the victims’ families) who find themselves without a loved one and deprived of their right to know what had happened.
The story of Ustica summarizes the whole character of Andrea Purgatori, his instinct as an excellent reporter (he was very fond of this title), as a high-level and quality envoy (for years he dealt with Iran and Libya in times when working on those fields was particularly complex). A dense, rapid writing, devoid of useless frills, let’s say severe. Exactly like the television language that viewers have found in the Atlantis adventure.
Whoever reads these lines will forgive the use of the personal pronoun. But I had the pleasure, I would say now the privilege, of working with him for years. In the mid-1980s, the then director Piero Ostellino decided on a radical generational change at the top of the Rome news. Andrea news editor, 32 years old, and I deputy to him, at 31. A decision that caused many perplexities in an editorial staff of consolidated professionals. And it was like throwing yourself into a tub of ice cold water. We began working together from morning until late at night. Andrea continually had countercurrent intuitions. He knew that a news like ours, which had to deal with competitors historically deeply rooted in the territory, could only attract readers by playing on the counterattack, constantly surprising them.
He revolutionized graphics by looking at US newspapers (his stay as a young man in the United States was essential for his professional and personal life), he made a point of even spectacular use of photographs, he decided on more than courageous headlines. Despite being in fact the same age, I owe him (in addition to a thousand, indelible gestures of friendship and solidarity, an indelible heritage) the discovery of a different, I would say more courageous, way of making news, of telling Rome, of not making it easy scandalism but never to fear power. When I took his place, I departed from all this heritage built above all thanks to him.
Entire pages could be written on Andrea Purgatori’s investigations, on his style, on his professional and human class, on his love for life, for his three children and also for the opportunities for happiness and beauty that existence can offer you.
A magnificent and proud person, incapable of hypocrisy and bargaining, frank, ironic and very elegant.
A true journalist, a protagonist of our civil history.
A friend that no one can ever replace. Never.
July 19, 2023 (change July 19, 2023 | 11:04)
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2023-07-19 08:33:15
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