Focus Storia

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.

New columns and collaborations for Focus, the Mondadori Group brand leader in the popular science segment 6.4 million readers and users and a community of over 3 million followers on social media, up by 40% since February 2020.

From this month Focus Domande & Risposte, the magazine that offers more than 250 questions and answers about the most incredible and interesting facts, is changing its frequency and becoming a monthly. And for the occasion the title is launching an exclusive collaboration with Massimo Cannoletta.

The celebrated champion of the TV quiz show L’Eredità, whose knowledge captured the hearts of the Italian audience. Will be the protagonist of a feature entitled “Te lo dice Massimo” in Focus Domande & Risposte and a weekly appointment on the Focus Facebook and Instagram profiles, where he will engage the community in an exclusive video questions and answers format.

“The strength of Focus lies in the care and attention given to providing detailed background and the way we search for news, the authoritativeness of our contributors and interlocutors, but also in the curiosity, the passion and enthusiasm we put in every day to offer our readers a quality product that is able to speak to everyone. Consequently, when I had the change to chat with Massimo Cannoletta, and when I saw his enthusiastic hunger for knowledge and his drive to explain, I thought it would be brilliant to add him to the team of journalists and collaborators that make the world of Focus a great multimedia platform for popular science,” declared Raffaele Leone, editor of Focus.

But that’s not all that’s new. Cannoletta will also have column in Focus Storia, Focus system magazine dedicated to the events, personalities and curiosities of the past and present. Every month in “Curioso per caso” he will allow readers to discover historic and artistic treasures form different countries in the world.

The super champion will also be the protagonist of an exclusive interview in the monthly Focus, in the issue on newsstands from 23 February, where he talks about the secrets of his memory.

Originally from Lecce, Cannoletta, who is 46, has a degree in political science. He is passionate about spreading culture and knowledge and became famous with the audience of the early evening quiz show presented by Flavio Insinna, participating in 51 episodes and beating record after record.
“I grew up reading Focus branded magazines, and I got many of the questions on L’Eredità right having learned them from these magazines. So I am absolutely honoured to become a part of the big Focus family,” declared Massimo Cannoletta.

Focus is Italy’s most widely-read magazine, with 6.4 million readers and users (Source: Nielsen Media Impact Data fusion, Amy 2020). It is increasingly appreciated and engaging on sempre social networks, where it has a growing audience of over 3 million followers (Source: Shareablee, February 2020). The magazine is the core of a multimedia ecosystem that includes the web, a TV channel, social media and events: a distinctive point of reference for issues of great current significance, from science to technology and nature, and thanks to contributions from authoritative voices of international renown and an approach that is always rigorous and fresh.