Gianni Mazzocchi

Gianni Mazzocchi (18 November 1906 – 24 October 1984) was an Italian magazine editor-proprietor, originally from Marche, with an unusual degree of energy and entrepreneurial flair; he moved north to Milan and became a leading print-media magnate. He founded more than fifteen national magazines including several, such as Il Mondo, L'Europeo, and Quattroruote, that continued to feature prominently on the nation's news stands long after his death.

Biography Provenance and early years Gianni Mazzocchi was born on the same day as Alec Issigonis. He was born in Ascoli Piceno, a regional capital across the mountains to the north-east of Rome. His father died in 1933, when he was 27.

In 1939, with approximately 15 titles published, Mazzocchi withdrew the business from the book market, deciding it was insufficiently profitable. The "Panorama" brand was retained and redeployed, however, being applied to what was at that stage issued as a fortnightly "encyclopaedia of current events". It was closed down on 12 September 1940, by order of the Ministry of Popular Culture which had found an article contributed by Indro Montanelli "defeatist". (After the fall of fascism, "Panorama" was revived by another publisher, and in 2018 continues to grace Italian news-stands as a weekly news-magazine.) Then in 1956 he launched Quattroruote, a car/motor magazine which he directed till 1984. The publication still appears each month across (and beyond) Italy. A few months later he purchased L'Auto Italiana, a motor magazine which came with a vast historical archive covering motoring, motorcycling, motorboat racing and aviation.

Blessed with an enthusiastic approach to life, Mazzocchi had a passion for cars. He saw them as vital instruments of personal and social emancipation. For him, cars epitomised individual freedom and independence. ("Vogliamo che l'auto diventi per tutti un mezzo per vivere meglio".) Elsewhere it was reported on 26 May 1978 that the extortionists had demanded a ransom of three billion lire. Maria Grazia Mazzocchi was held for slightly more than two months and released on 28 July 1978 to be greeted by press speculation that her father had been forced to sell Quattroruote in order to raise the funds necessary to purchase his daughter's release. (It seems he had not, though raising one and a half billion lire to buy off the kidnappers had not been easy. Gianni Mazzocchi commented ruefully, "Perhaps I was a lousy husband, but certainly I'm a terrible widower. I don't find myself any more".

On 26 October 1984 the funeral procession set off from the family home in Milan to the family burial plot at Gignese on the shores of Lake Maggiore. The letters and messages of condolence received by Gianni Mazzocchi's family included a telegramme from President Pertini.