ABSTRACT
Newspapers can be divided into categories by area of distribution. There are the national ones, such as Il Corriere della sera or Il Sole-2 4 Ore, that can be bought at kiosks in any part of the peninsula and are available abroad. There are pluri-regional and regional papers, such as Il Resto del Carlino or La Nazione, which are bought largely in the sizeable cities where they are based and in the surrounding area (Bologna/ Reggio Emilia for the former). Smaller cities tend to support their own dailies, and often these have long histories, as with Il Piccolo of Trieste. However, even the national papers are often associated with a particular region, as is the case with La Stampa and Il Corriere della sera, and Italy does not have the equivalent of the New York Times or Le Monde. The local pages are important in the national dailies, reflecting the way Italians identify strongly with their city or locality. This gravitational pull, moreover, is not offset by a metropolis comparable to New York or Paris. But while in northern and central Italy there is a lively press, the South and islands are much more poorly served; Il Mattino of Naples cannot compete with publications based in Milan or Rome.
