«denigratore delle forze armate italiane»

Montanelli’s reportage from Spain, published in Longanesi’s Omnibus magazine on 7 August 1937, challenged Fascist censorship. That’s why Montanelli was accused of having offended the armed forces. Because of that Benito Mussolini ordered to withdraw from Montanelli the Fascist Party card and to expel him from the order of journalists. Mussolini also prevented him from returning to Italy. Giuseppe Bottai, Minister of National Education, procured Montanelli the assignment of Italian reader at the University of Tartu and guaranteed him the position of director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Tallinn. Montanelli stayed in Estonia for almost a year, after which he had the chance to return to Italy. The Omnibus reportage is here finally released for the second time, after an eighty-year editorial oblivion.