2021

Podcast d’altro genere is an audio project developed by our Rizzoli publishing house to encourage people to think about the roles of characters in well-known fairy tales.

The podcast is based on the book Gender Swapped Fairy Tales by Karrie Fransman and Jonathan Plackett, where the characters in traditional stories swap gender. This is a world where evil stepfathers cast spells on newborn princes, the bad wolf is a she-wolf and princesses overcome one challenge after another to go and rescue sleeping princes.

These may appear to be minor, inconsequential changes, but in fact they are significant, and provided the idea for Podcast d’altro genere.

In a four-part series examining oral tradition, re-workings and famous adaptations, Matteo Bordone and Carlo G. Gabardini – with contributions from Giulia Blasi, Gabriella Crafa, Vera Gheno, Elena Giorgi, Eva Massari and Lisa Dalla Via – examine the significance of gender roles in fairy tales and their importance in children’s development as future citizens. How does a story change and what changes in us when a gender-swapping mechanism of the sort used by Fransman and Plackett is applied?

Podcast d’altro genere is a literary exercise giving everyone the opportunity to talk about gender stereotypes and related issues. A central question in people’s lives today, examined from an unusual point of view.

The podcast can be downloaded free from all music streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple podcast, Spreaker, Deezer and Amazon Music.

5 July 2021

With regard to the news reports published today, the Mondadori Group hereby informs that negotiations are underway for the acquisition of 100% of De Agostini Scuola S.p.A., a school textbooks publisher owned by De Agostini Editore S.p.A..

The ongoing process, which follows the acceptance of a binding offer, envisages the signing of the contract subject to the successful outcome of further important stages, such as the sharing between the parties of specific contractual terms being discussed and the positive completion of confirmatory due diligence activities by the Mondadori Group.

The transaction would be consistent with the repeatedly announced strategy of focusing on the core business of books, in which the Mondadori Group boasts a longstanding leadership in Trade and is one of the top school textbooks players.

Completion, if any, of the transaction will be promptly disclosed to the market and would be subject to the authorizations of law by the competent Antitrust authority.

Focus Storia, the Mondadori Group brand dedicated to the personalities, events and curiosities of history, is enhancing its offer with new formats and content which, from the magazine to the web and social media, extends also to podcasts.

In fact, the magazine edited by Raffaele Leone has made available to the public the portal “Storia in Podcast” (History in Podcasts), Italy’s most complete audio library to enable readers and users to discover in a new way the protagonists and facts that have marked human civilisation.

An unprecedented and exclusive journey, with over 180 continuously updated episodes divided into 10 thematic areas that talk about the great events of the past in a simple but rigorous approach, thanks to the contribution of contemporary historians and commentators from leading Italian universities.

Enhancing the “Storia in podcast” series, an episode created to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the birth of Princess Diana is now available. From her origins, in Sandringham, in Norfolk, to her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981 to the tragic car accident in which she lost her life in the late summer of 1997.

A special episode that is part of the Focus Storia podcast collection dedicated to the events of the ever-popular British royal family: from “The Crown: from fiction to reality”, in which the writer and historian Hugo Vickers discusses the celebrated Netflix TV series, up to “Prince Philip” and “The Queen’s Corgis”.

A selection of content, available on the Focus-branded web site, that already reaches an overall audience of 6 million readers and users (Source: Nielsen Data Fusion, November 2020) as well as on the Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast and  Amazon Podcast platforms, where over 1.1 million listeners have been recorded, confirming the success of this innovative format which completes the o Focus Storia offer.

“Podcasts are an extraordinary tool able to attract a broad and complementary audience alongside the fans who already follow us on the Focus Storia magazine. Adding podcasts is part of a wider project aimed at making Focus an authentic multimedia world accessible across all platforms on the market. In addition, a history podcast, in a country like ours, that is full of entrepreneurial excellence that, while relevant to the present, also has an interesting, often local and family-based, past, will also enable us to examine this reality which is unknown to most people,” declared the editor of the magazine, Raffaele Leone.

The Focus Storia community has also been won over by the many episodes that look at great personalities for the present and the past: from the last King of Italy, Umberto II, in the words of his daughter Maria Gabriella di Savoia, to Dante Alighieri and Lorenzo de’ Medici, and the football phenomenon Diego Armando Maradona. And then the great interest in current events, with the success of an exclusive docuseries: from the story of Alfredino, 40 years after the tragedy of Vermicino, up to ten episodes on the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, with previously unseen photos and archive recordings that have never been heard before.

Teaching materials, summaries, conceptual maps, guides and background details prepared by teachers, as well as podcasts with audio snippets for speed up revision, a YouTube channel and dedicated groups on Facebook and Telegram: also this year Studenti.it confirms its role as a point of reference for schoolkids involved in the high school diploma exams, making available all of the necessary resources to face and overcome the challenge.

The Mondadori Group brand – used by the community also as a platform for sharing opinions, doubts and expectations, starting from surveys and questionnaires – has continued to offer support for students outside of school with a wide range of materials on its web site and on social media, confirming its position as a leader in the educational segment with 5 million unique users per month (Source: Comscore, April 2021).

THE MOST CLICKED CONTENT – Exhausted after a year and a half of distance learning and by the final rush of checks and tests, final year high school students have once again found in digital content an indispensable source of support for revision ahead of the exams. This is confirmed by a survey conducted on the eve of the exams by Studenti.it on a sample of 40,000 pupils: 50% of them declared that they found the summaries extremely useful, followed by conceptual maps (25%), background (14%) and videos (9%). However, it is podcasts that won the record number of clicks, for which, in the month of May alone, more than 165,000 downloads were recorded, with a total of over 1.2 million downloads on the brand’s channel.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY – Among the many difficulties encountered at the end of the year, the biggest one concerned the preparation for the exam: it is by chance that, according to a recent survey by Studenti.it, 80% of students did not feel adequately prepared or were afraid of gaps due to distance learning. The exams, however, went better than expected, as can be seen from the comments collected on the brand’s social media channels, which have become an authentic meeting and exchange point for all the students: “My exam went well. I was excited, I had studied a lot and it seemed like a walk in the park,” writes Veronica. “Guys, I’’s over! An unforgettable feeling, good luck to the next lot!”, echoes Desiree.

From literary summaries to mathematical explanations, from English cards to scientific curiosities, and from practical tips to jog the memory and concentration to suggestions for dealing with performance anxiety, the final year exams are confirmed as increasingly social and digital.

RECORD ON TIKTOK – Present on all major social networks with a fanbase of 910,000 users (Source: Shareablee and TikTok, June 2021), in the weeks of the exams Studenti.it enjoyed unprecedented success on TikTok. In fact, for the first time, with the launch of the hashtags #imparacontiktok, #imparacontiktokitalia and #maturità2021, even the popular social network attracted a significant number of students struggling with the state exams.

Thanks to the quality and immediacy of the educational video snippets, as well as the openness and spontaneity of the young creators, the Studenti.it channel received a wave of subscriptions, with more than 310,000 followers and more than 3 million likes; a total of 7 million views.

The commitment of the Studenti.it team will not stop even during the summer months: the brand’s TikTok creators will continue to keep students company, with lots of new content designed to support them both in their choice of university and in view of getting back to school.

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. (LEI Code 815600049A1F9AFE6666) announces the purchase on the MTA (Electronic Stock Market), in the period from 21 June to 25 June 2021, of no 19,191 ordinary shares (equal to 0.007% of the share capital) at an average unit price of €1.6493 for a total amount of €31,653.15.

These transactions were made under the authorization to purchase treasury shares approved by the Shareholders’ Meeting of 27 April 2021, and as part of the purchase programme to service the 2021-2023, 2020-2022 and 2019-2021 Performance Share Plans, the start of which was approved by the Board of Directors on 13 May 2021 (as per the disclosure made on the same date also pursuant to Article 144 bis of CONSOB Regulation 11971/99, and to Article 5 of EU Regulation 596/2014).

The following table details the purchases made per day in the above period of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. ordinary shares, ISIN Code IT0001469383:

The purchases were made through the authorized intermediary Equita Sim S.p.A. (LEI Code 815600E3E9BFBC8FAA85), independently and with no influence from the Issuer as regards the timing of the purchases.

Following the purchases made so far, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. holds no 419,827 treasury shares, corresponding 0.161% of the share capital.

Purchases in detail in the complete pdf.

Our Mondadori publishing house has launched Nota del traduttore, a five-part mini-series on YouTube about the job of the translator, in the words of some of Italy’s top professionals.

Translation is a fascinating and extremely important editorial profession because it offers readers access in their own language to the works of foreign writers, helping them acquire a natural understanding and appreciation of the spirit of the text. Who better than the translator, who has “gone inside” the book and investigated its hidden depths, can guide readers through the universe that lies within the pages of a novel?

The format was created for the specific purpose of answering the questions to which even people who work in the world of books are unable to respond satisfactorily: do you read the text first and then start translating or translate it a bit at a time? What do you do when the author uses slang? How has translation changed over the years?

Nota del traduttore is a three-part journey in three different settings. The first is a desk, where the translators talk about the way they work and the objects they have at hand. The second setting is a red armchair where they reply to questions with a series of optometric charts representing the transition from a symbol to a meaning, from one cultural universe to another. In the third and final setting, the translators address an imaginary audience made up of photos of writers and book covers, reading a personal “note”, a few words describing the ultimate meaning of the work they do.

The five episodes, filmed at the Panatronics Studio in Milan, feature translators Marco Rossari, Monica Pavani, Edoardo Rialti, Gianni Pannofino, Luca Fusari and Sara Prencipe. The project was developed from an idea by Edoardo Brugnatelli, with the collaboration of Jacopo Milesi, Chiara Ottolini, Nadia Focile and Francesca Gariazzo, together with Claudio Sforza, Alessandro Freno, Ivan Tonucci, Cristina Sinelli, Federico Terenzio and Mauro Forester.

Our publishing houses are supply systems incorporating highly specific professional skills that transform the most impalpable things – what Shakespeare would call “such stuff as dreams are made on” – into consumer goods. Giving translators a voice and visibility is a way to highlight the craftsmanship, the competences, people and passion that is editorial work.

From here we want to expand this type of communication, to bring readers closer to our books, answer their queries about jobs in publishing and give the human and professional skills operating in our Group the credit they deserve.

In 2021, everyone hospitalised at the Sant’Orsola will receive the gift of a book. A companion to help them get through difficult days and discover something new. This is the Fondazione Sant’Orsola project for 2021. An idea that stemmed from the voluntary work of the non-profit organisation and was developed together with Coop Alleanza 3.0 consultant Romano Montroni, chair of the scientific committee of the Centro per il Libro e la Lettura.

The initiative was made possible thanks to the generosity of three sponsors – BPER Banca, the Unipol Group and UniSalute – and the kindness of the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group, who agreed to print 24,000 volumes. Three books have been published: Jane Austen, Emma; Jack London, Martin Eden; Cesare Pavese, La casa in collina. Three classics, three books to read and re-read.

The project was also supported by the Centro per il libro e la lettura, an autonomous body of the Italian Ministry for Culture, and will be endorsed by author Gianrico Carofiglio, who has recognised the importance of the initiative, the first of its kind in Italy.

As soon as the health emergency has ended and the wards are re-opened, the volunteers of the Fondazione Sant’Orsola will present the books to the patients. Until then, distribution will be organised with the assistance of the clinic’s nursing staff, who will ask incoming patients to choose one of the three books when they are assigned a bed. The Fondazione Sant’Orsola website will host a virtual community of readers, where views on the three books and other reading material can be shared.

“Books are essential to a person’s development,” explains the president of Fondazione Sant’Orsola, Giacomo Faldella, “but also to their well-being: some patients bring a book with them, and they see it as a life jacket before making a crossing on a stormy sea; or, more simply perhaps, as a friend to keep them company. However, many patients aren’t in the habit of reading, or for some reason were unable to bring a book with them.”

“In Britain, bibliotherapy has long been a recognised activity,” says Romano Montroni. “The National Health Service has a department set up for the specific purpose of using reading to foster well-being. The relationship between a person’s health and art is also deeply rooted in our own culture; in the early Italian hospitals, like Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, the sick and pilgrims were accommodated and treated in rooms that over the centuries had been decorated by the city’s great painters and sculptors, so the patients were literally “immersed” in beauty. In other words, well-being was regarded in a broad sense, not simply in medical-physical terms.”

“The first thing that someone experiencing a period of difficulty or illness should perhaps try and do is look after themselves,” adds Enrico Selva Coddè, CEO of Einaudi and Mondadori Libri Trade. “It sounds easy, but sometimes it’s impossible. So a simple gesture can help, which is to open a book and absorb yourself in the voice speaking from its pages. A voice dedicated to us, as an indissoluble combination of flesh and imagination. Three classics, because they are like old friends we enjoy seeing again, classics that, as Italo Calvino said, are books people usually say they are ‘re-reading’, not that they are ‘reading’.” Whether it is the wit and irony of Jane Austen, the courage and tenacity of Jack London, the realism and melancholy of Cesare Pavese, these books will certainly help their readers feel less alone.”

Exactly one year ago, Fondazione Sant’Orsola brought together around twenty volunteers – former booksellers, retired teachers, people who love reading – to set up the Libri in corsia project. In just a few weeks, the 1,745 books in the wards had been mapped to create an online catalogue patients could use to request a book located in another ward; the volunteers would then fetch it for them. The pandemic meant that, for reasons of safety, books could no longer be swapped in the hospital. But the Fondazione Sant’Orsola volunteers did not give up: they decided that if books could not be borrowed, they could always be offered as a gift.

This led to the idea being launched today, thanks to the generosity of the sponsors and the publishing houses of the Mondadori Group. An idea that the Fondazione Sant’Orsola volunteers have decided to take a step further with a new project Provo a dirlo con un libro. The Sant’Orsola website today has a catalogue of more than 250 books reviewed by the volunteers. Patients can ask for one of the books, or for one of the titles that have not yet been reviewed, and the volunteers will get it to them within 24 hours. Meanwhile, everyone can post comments and reviews on the catalogue, to build up the online community of readers.
22 June 2021

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. (LEI Code 815600049A1F9AFE6666) announces the purchase on the MTA (Electronic Stock Market), in the period from 14 June to 18 June 2021, of no 71,602 ordinary shares (equal to 0.027% of the share capital) at an average unit price of €1.6306 for a total amount of €116,756.64.

These transactions were made under the authorization to purchase treasury shares approved by the Shareholders’ Meeting of 27 April 2021, and as part of the purchase programme to service the 2021-2023, 2020-2022 and 2019-2021 Performance Share Plans, the start of which was approved by the Board of Directors on 13 May 2021 (as per the disclosure made on the same date also pursuant to Article 144 bis of CONSOB Regulation 11971/99, and to Article 5 of EU Regulation 596/2014).

The following table details the purchases made per day in the above period of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. ordinary shares, ISIN Code IT0001469383:

The purchases were made through the authorized intermediary Equita Sim S.p.A. (LEI Code 815600E3E9BFBC8FAA85), independently and with no influence from the Issuer as regards the timing of the purchases.

Following the purchases made so far, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. holds no 400,636 treasury shares, corresponding 0.153% of the share capital.

Purchases in detail in the complete pdf.

Icon, the Mondadori Group’s male lifestyle and fashion brand, is launching “Ready, steady, play”, a special issue to talk about and celebrate sport, as a symbol of re-emergence and a new style of life, and the worlds that surround it: fashion and sportswear, to coincide with the opening of the Milan Fashion Week, wellbeing and new technologies.

The special issue, on newsstands from 19 June, will be a homage to vitality, positivity and the rediscovery of the joy of living alongside others. It will have four different covers featuring protagonists of the summer’s most important sporting events – from football’s Euro 2020 to the Olympic Games – and the athletes of emerging disciplines, offering readers a different vision of sport and the re-birth that it represents.

 “A new season is opening up for everyone, that’s what we hope and our way of experiencing sport could really become a symbol of the re-emergence that is on the horizon and an agent of social change,” said the magazine’s editor, Andrea Tenerani.

 The issue opens with an exclusive conversation between the editor of Icon and Mino Raiola, the ‘king’ of football agents, who the magazine asked about the values that underlie sport: “Inclusion, equality, the need for a level playing field and to learn to work and live together regardless of where one comes from: football is a mirror of life. These values, which are fundamental for football, are also fundamental for society and in the daily life of all of us”, he told Icon. Raiola also explained to the magazine edited by Andrea Tenerani his view about his work over the years: “I leave it to the players and my family to judge me, if they are happy, then I’m happy too. And then, as we say in such circumstances, if you choose a job that you love, you only have to work one day and you’ll never have to work another day in your life”, concluded “the man behind the success of some of football’s greatest talents of the age”. 

One of the stars of one of the four Icon covers is the football player Erling Haaland. A rising star of European and world football, Haaland talks about himself in an exclusive interview, conducted in partnership with The Daily Telegraph and leading sports journalist Jason Burt. The Norwegian striker confesses to the magazine that his great obsession is the Champions League. He started following it when he was a little boy and made his first appearance on the small field near his home at the age of 19 where he immediately made his mark. “I used to watch the matches when I was very young: I don’t remember when the Champions League wasn’t a part of my life. There were some great teams with legendary top-scoring players. My dream became that of playing in the Champions League and scoring lots of goals. It’s the tournament where the best players play: that’s their place”. And he also admits how important it is to win, “It’s my biggest dream!”

Icon also has a cover dedicated to the Azzurri who in these days are engaged in Euro 2020: the magazine met the Italian national football team, led by manager Roberto Mancini, in Coverciano where they posed for an exclusive photo shoot in the uniform designed by Giorgio Armani for Emporio Armani.

The collaboration between Icon and Bruce Weber continues and in this special issue the outstanding American photographer returns with a more than 20-page feature with portraits of emerging athletes, including, exclusively, Sean O’Malley, also known as Suga, the most promising fighter of the new generation of fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and protagonist of one of the issue’s covers.

Icon also gives space in this sports issue to the rising stars of Italian sport and the disciplines making their debut at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The magazine has selected as the symbol of this generation of young stars, who have been called upon to establish the new rules in their respective disciplines, Ludovico Fossali, the speed climbing champion, captured by photographer Giampaolo Sgura and another protagonist of one of the covers of this special issue of Icon.

The new issue features many talents, personalities and exclusive stories. Including Milena Bertolini, manager of the Italian Women’s Football Team who in the pages of Icon talks about what is happening today in women’s football, and Donyell Malen, the PSV Eindhoven star, photographed during a fashion shoot. And then there is basketball, with P.J.Tucker, one of the outstanding players of the NBA season.

The sports issue will also be on Instagram and on the Icon web site, which has recently been completely redesigned, where, throughout the summer, the brand will continue to cover sport as a symbol of a general re-birth with interviews, exclusive content and updates about competitions and athletes.

With a 22% increase in the number of advertising pages in the first half of the year, compared with the same period of 2020, and total revenues, print and digital, up by 20%, Icon confirms its position as the market leader in the male lifestyle segment. 

Responding to the new needs of contemporary living, accompanying readers with proposals and solutions that are always original and accessible: CasaFacile, the Mondadori Group brand edited by Francesca Magni, confirms its position as a point of reference for interiors and lifestyle enthusiasts, thanks to the excellent performance, recorded in the first 5 months of the year, of both the magazine the website and on social networks.

“Every month on newsstands and every day on social media, it is exciting to experience the active participation of our community: people who are passionate about the home and everything that can make it more liveable, hungry for inspiration, style ideas and solutions to copy, as well as ways to make the house more in tune with nature. In recent months we have literally “felt” the growing loyalty towards CasaFacile, in a virtuous circle that integrates both print and digital. The biggest satisfaction is receiving messages on Direct Instagram that say: ‘I discovered you on Instagram and now I can’t wait to get the magazine every month from the newsstand,’” said Francesca Magni, editor of CasaFacile.

The first 5 issues of the year of the monthly, which have also included special editions enhanced with new features, in fact recorded a 7% increase in circulation compared with 2020 (Source: the publisher, January-May).

“La Casa dei sogni” (Dream Homes), the first digital Festival conceived by CasaFacile, which started with the special April issue was a huge success. In fact, for a month the brand used the website and social media to talk about what we dream for our homes and how to improve the quality of life by redesigning the spaces in which we live: It involved a community of over 1 million fans, up 39% compared with last year (Source: Shareablee + Pinterest May 2021), and achieved a total reach of 27 million users and 1.7 million total video views (source: Facebook, Instagram and site).

CasaFacile has proved to be an authoritative and effective partner also for its growing number of advertisers, who are increasingly and aware of the brand’s ability to generate audience and interact with its vast community: in the period from January to May 2021, CasaFacile’s advertising revenues (print and digital) grew by 47% compared with the previous year, with a space share of more than 60% in its segment of reference, establishing itself as the market leader the monthly consumer interiors segment.

In the autumn, a number of new initiatives await readers and users who are more attentive to new ways of living at home, sustainability and ‘green’: CasaFacile will continue to interpret the need for design that is more in tune with nature and will introduce a series of initiatives that will take shape in the coming months, entitled “Natural Recall”, starting with two special issues of the magazine.

September’s issue of CasaFacile will be dedicated to “A house in harmony with nature”, giving space to new projects from all over the world, with rooms aimed at optimising thermal comfort and brightness, solutions to multiply the quantity of green, even in small spaces, and furnishings in natural materials. With stories from people who have decided to integrate nature into their lives and new ways of bringing nature into the home, such as balcony gardens and botanical décor.

The October issue,  will feature “A home in harmony with you”, an invitation to build a house tailored to what you want and enjoy: room by room, tips and smart products for virtuous living, from carefully selected new models for the kitchen to the best materials for sustainability, recyclability, resistance and pleasantness of use, as well as textiles for a good sleep, the organisation of remote working, to reconcile work and private life.

All this will also lead into the second edition of the CasaFacile digital festival, which will run from 4 to 30 October 2021 with content and background detail on the website and on social media. “Natural Recall” is an invitation to global well-being: and starts from the theme of nature and sustainability, but extends to embrace all kinds of products that can make life at home more pleasant, add atmosphere and live-ability, decorate, creating a new relationship with the outside world, making the home more connected and easy to manage remotely, enabling you to equip home offices or fitness and hobby corners, while also improving energy performance and thermal comfort.

A new opportunity for partners who want to talk about their projects and new ideas to render the home more in harmony with us and with nature, with video formats and Instagram stories, produced by the team of bloggers, interior designers and architects who work with the magazine.

A form of cross-media storytelling that will engage readers on all the brand’s digital touchpoints, thanks to the ability of CasaFacile to evolve its offer to embrace the new needs of the contemporary audience.