The journalist Daniele Compatangelo has died

The journalist Daniele Compatangelo was found dead at his home in Arlington, near Washington. He was 50 years old. Investigations into the cause of death are ongoing; the most likely cause is believed to be a sudden illness.

Daniele Compatangelo had been in America for several years. He had worked as a producer for NBC in Turin during the Winter Olympics, and had collaborated from Los Angeles with Mediaset (entertainment and sport), Sky and RSI (the Italian-language Swiss TV broadcaster). He then moved to Washington during Biden’s presidency and began working with Rai, on the programme "Mezz’ora in più" with Antonio Di Bella and Lucia Annunziata, and with TV2000. In recent years, however, he had been working with La7.  

“We are stunned. The whole of La7 stands with his loved ones. Daniele was a valuable and rare communicator, always striving to report with accuracy and cheerfulness. He was a fine journalist. He will be missed,” wrote La7’s director, Andrea Salerno, on social media.

From November 2025, he also held the post of president of the White House Foreign Correspondents’ Association (WHFCA), an association of correspondents covering US government policy.

A month ago, he interviewed Trump after the G7 summit. In the interview, the US president said that Giorgia Meloni had “begged him for a photo” during the summit.