podcast

The Original projects by  Mondadori Studios

are created, strengthening Mondadori Group’s presence in the podcast market. A format that is making a name for itself in the consumption habits of an ever wider public – which also embraces younger generations – to which the Mondadori Group will be able to offer high quality audio content, written, developed and created by a dedicated team.

The Mondadori Studios project
Mondadori Studios is a new space for the creation and production of original audio content: from spin-offs and discussion of what goes on behind the scenes in the creation of successful books to great works of historic and scientific education, from narrative invention to political analysis.

Includes original podcasts created in collaboration with important authors and characters with a strong experience in the world of audio broadcasting. A portfolio of stories and insights that enrich the wide digital offer of the Group’s publishing houses, with a catalogue of over 20,000 e-books and about 1,700 audiobooks.

The transversal nature and wealth of content and authors of Mondadori Studios is accompanied by the very high level of the production phase, thanks to an excellent sound design capable of enhancing the big names who collaborate on the initiative, and a graphic project with a strong visual impact by Francesco Poroli, internationally appreciated graphic illustrator.

The Original podcasts

There are three podcasts that will open the Originals by Mondadori Studios, featuring a total of 15 episodes, dedicated to highly topical issues, such as the protection of the planet, digital security and domestic violence: they include Elements, Digital Wars and Under the nails, available free on all major audio streaming platforms and usable from any device.

Elements was based on an idea by Mariasole Bianco, scientist, naturalistic populariser and President of Worldrise Onlus, to celebrate nature through the work of women who embody its essence. Four elements for four episodes – Water, Earth, Air and Fire – plus a fifth episode that exalts the human being par excellence: The culture.
Voices of Elements are Mariasole Bianco herself together with zoologist Mia Canestrini, the meteorological physicist Serena Giacomin, the environmentalist and forager Valeria Margherita Mosca and the communication expert Chiara Sgarbi, creator of the social profile @chiara_sui_libri.
A podcast to feed sparks of hope and give the right boost to change to safeguard our planet.

Digital Wars. What it is and why we talk about it (Guerre digitali. Cosa sono e perché ne parliamo),conceived by Mariarosaria Taddeo, Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, over six episodes deals with the themes of IT security,cybernetic intelligence, and the use of artificial intelligence as a military advantage up to its moral implications.

Under the nails (Sotto le unghie) is a true story of Patience Manzumba Nyapasa, a drama of ordinary domestic violence. A simple adjective to describe the too many tragedies that are still present in the chronicle of modern society.
There are four episodes written and narrated by Giulia Muscatelli, an author linked to women’s issues, regarding gender and social inclusion. Under the nails is a story of pain, beauty and courage, a story like many others, but it’s precisely for this reason that it’s important to be told.

From books to podcasts

Four podcasts dedicated to successful books and narrated by as many famous authors of the Group’s publishing houses are already available on all digital platforms: Bruno Vespa, Sveva Casati Modignani, Giuliano Da Empoli and Federico Varese.

The Wizard of the Kremlin. Instructions for Use Giuliano Da Empoli takes the reader backstage at The Wizard of the Kremlin (Mondadori, 2022), returning a real “instruction manual” to understand the story of Vadim Baranov, Vladimir Putin’s spin doctor.
The great storm by Bruno Vespa recounts a century of Italian history, from the end of fascism to the birth of the Meloni government, retracing the pages of his homonymous book published for Mondadori (2022) in collaboration with Rai Libri.
Protagonist of the podcast Crime and Punishments in the age of Putin. Russia seen through four criminals the voice of Federico Varese. Taken from his book Russia seen through four criminals (Einaudi, 2022), talks about contemporary Russia through the lives of four criminals representing different eras and social groups.
Lastly, in Dear Sveva. Time and love – produced in collaboration with Sperling & Kupfer – the bestselling author Sveva Casati Modignani imagines writing four letters to the female protagonists of the history of literature to discuss immortal themes: time (of life, of relationships) and love.

Coming out in the next few weeks, linked to the publication of Enrico Camanni’s new book Se non dovessi tornare, edited by Mondadori, the podcast Gary Hemming. Story of an obsession. The story of the life of a truly unique character – a nonconformist and libertarian climber – becomes an opportunity to recall the birth of a new way of thinking about mountaineering and the mountains, against the backdrop of the wonderful utopia of the 60s.

Useful links

Stay updated on the Mondadori Studios podcasts via the Instagram page, the Telegram channel and the playlists available on the main platforms, including Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.

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

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.

Sperling & Kupfer today launches the podcast Senza perdere il filo. Narratori di mondi possibili on the main audio platforms. This is the first podcast produced by a publishing house with original content created ad hoc by authors with the Mondadori Group’s publishing houses.

The theme of the podcast is sustainability. Developed from an idea by Linda Poncetta, a fiction editor at Sperling & Kupfer, and Grazia Rusticali, chief fiction editor at Sperling & Kupfer and Piemme, the project is part of the eleventh edition of the international Nudge Global Impact Challenge.

People who tell stories create new worlds, or show us the world in which we live in a different light, suggesting ways it could be improved. With their stories, the protagonists of this podcast stimulate reflection on a new beginning, an opportunity to imagine a different future after Covid. Because there is an answer to the change we are looking for: a more sustainable world, a future where we respect ourselves, other people and the environment around us.

From high-quality teaching to gender equality, from the fight against climate change to the value of diversity:  Senza perdere il filo is a podcast that examines the past, recounts the present and imagines the future, through contributions from 7 authors, who talk about every aspect of sustainability.

Each episode is inspired by one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The authors who took part are Sara Rattaro (Le parole cambiano il mondo; storytelling and creative writing), Claudio Pelizzeni (Consigli per viaggiare sostenibile), Federica Gasbarro (Le parole insegnano, gli esempi trascinano; climate change), Guido Marangoni (Uguali e diversi; diversity and inclusion), Francesca Vecchioni (È l’uomo misura di tutte le cose?; gender equality), Andrea Maggi (Lezioni per un futuro sostenibile; high-quality teaching) and Annalisa Monfreda (Quell’intreccio prezioso di vita e lavoro; smart working and the future of work).
The podcast is available free on: Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Amazon Music. The first three episodes are currently available; the next two will be published on 17 May and the last two on 24 May. The Senza perdere il filo series is produced by Sperling & Kupfer with the editorial supervision of Linda Poncetta. Sound design and realisation is by Luca Carano.
https://www.spreaker.com/show/senza-perdere-il-filo
The project stems from the Mondadori Group’s participation in the Nudge Global Impact Challenge, an eight-month personal development program concentrating on leadership and sustainability, for young professionals from all over the world. During the program the ninety participants have the chance to develop an idea with a positive impact for a more sustainable world.

For more than 110 years, the mission of the Mondadori Group has been to foster the circulation of culture and ideas, through a high-profile leisure offer for the widest possible public. A leading player on the book market and Italy’s primary multimedia publisher, Mondadori has embraced a social responsibility path that, through all its channels, promotes quality content highlighting sustainability, plurality of thought, inclusion and diversity, with an approach geared to innovation.

Mondadori’s commitment takes the form of activities to support the communities where the group operates: promotion of reading, education, training and social and healthcare assistance. The group has also implemented a range of initiatives to reduce the environmental footprint of its offices and bookstores, which have led to a significant reduction in carbon emissions and increased use of certified paper for the production of books and magazines.

Donna Moderna, the Mondadori Group brand edited by Annalisa Monfreda, has chosen Storytel, Europe’s leading audiobook platform, for its debut in the world of podcasts.

And it will do so with ten new stories that are an ideal extension of the Donne come noi experience, the project dedicated to female empowerment which is already a book, a theatre show that continues to tour Italy, and a training course with stages around the country to inform our readers.

Every Wednesday, from 25 September, for ten consecutive weeks, the Storytel platform will launch a brand new podcast, entirely conceived, written and spoken by the staff of Donna Moderna. The voices of the journalists will alternate with those of the protagonists: normal women who have realised extraordinary achievements and distinguished themselves for their strength and tenacity and shown themselves able to overturn the gender stereotypes to challenge the rules of the game and conquer new space.

A full list of episodes:

25 September Donne che non abbassano la testa (Women that don’t bend)

                        An entrepreneur, a judge and a reporter in the sights of the mafia

2 October        La rivincita delle scienziate (The revenge of women scientists)

                        Lucia Votano, a researcher born in 1947, and a battle still to be won

9 October       Ragazze nel pallone (Football girls)

                        Sara Gama, the World Cup with the national team and the long road to equality in sport

16 October      Una chef controcorrente (A chef against the grain)

                        Cristina Bowerman and the rise of female Italian chefs in starred kitchens

23 October      L’altra metà dell’architettura (The other half of architecture)

Sandy Attia and the challenge of sustainable design in a world of male archistars

30 October      Noi, mamme acrobate (Acrobat mums)

A journey through the dreams and problems of single mothers, from choice or necessity

6 November    La rivoluzione verde (The green revolution)

The Anglo-Italian designer Orsola De Castro talks about a different and more ethical fashion

13 November Io sono super abile   (I am super-capable)

Paralympic athlete Martina Caironi and the desire to start again with a broken body

20 November Donna per scelta (Women from choice)

Arianna and the others, born in the wrong body, and their difficult transition

27 November Steve Jobs è femmina (Steve Jobs is female)

The three very young Italian programmers that are designing the digital future

Sign up on eee.storytel.it/donnamoderna and download the Storytel app to your smartphone or tablet where you can find the Donne come noi podcast and start listening. With the app and the tag #donnamoderna you can discover, as well as the episodes of the podcast, a series of titles (non-fiction, novels and podcasts) published by Storytel and recommended by the staff of the magazine. Registration will give you a free 30-day trial of the service – after which you can decided to continue your subscription at a cost of €9.99 per month – and provides access to the entire Storytel catalogue, that includes some 100,000 titles in three languages.

Donna Moderna, is Italy’s leading network for women that through the magazine reaches 3.5 million readers every month (source: Audipress 2019/I) and on web and social media channels, a digital audience of 10.3 million unique users per month (Source: Audiweb Mar-May 2019) to which should be added over 1,300,000 fans on Facebook, more than 500,000 followers on Twitter and 175,000 on Instagram.

Storytel was founded in 2005 and is a digital pioneer in the market for audiobooks, a sector that is growing rapidly. Storytel is currently the biggest streaming service in Northern Europe for audiobooks and operates in 19 markets around the world. Launched in Italy in June 2018, in the Italian market it boasts a catalogue of over 65,000 titles in English and around 4,000 in Italian, including many exclusives and podcasts. The offer was further enhanced in the summer with the addition of Spanish, with around 3,000 titles, reflecting the value of linguistic variety that has always underpinned the international spirit of Storytel.