Journalist Toni Capuozzo has died; he was 77

Toni Capuozzo has died aged 77. Tgcom 24 has reported the news, noting that just a few days ago the journalist had announced that he had cancer. A journalist of the old school, Capuozzo worked for many years for the Mediaset publishing group, from Tg5 to Tg4 and Studio Aperto. His funeral is scheduled for Monday 16 November at 3:30 pm in Udine.

Capuozzo, originally from Friuli, had reported on some of the major conflicts of recent decades, from Somalia to the former Yugoslavia, and from Afghanistan to Iraq. Deputy editor-in-chief of Tg5, he had also been the writer and presenter of the weekly current affairs programme ‘Terra!’. One of the most significant moments of his career occurred during the siege of Sarajevo, when he helped save little Kemal – who had been wounded and left an orphan – by bringing him to Italy.

There have been many messages of sympathy from the worlds of journalism and politics. “With the passing of Toni Capuozzo, Italian journalism has lost an unmistakable voice, who throughout his career chronicled so many major events that have shaped history through his reports and first-hand accounts. I offer my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones,” wrote Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on social media.

"We have lost a courageous journalist, but above all a free man. A rarity these days. ‘Farewell, Toni,’ wrote Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of the Lega, on social media. ‘He was part of our lives, reporting on conflicts on screen or explaining them in the pages of his books, and he was the same person you might meet in a village or in the square,’ said PD MP Debora Serracchiani. “I admired his genuine vitality, his penetrating insight into things, his willingness to take on the challenge of chairing Mittelfest, and a voice and character that made him instantly recognisable. He was already recognised as one of the chroniclers of our time, but he has left us far too soon,” she added.

Enrico Mentana paid tribute to his friend and colleague on social media with these words: “Ciao Toni, a friend for ever”. The two journalists had worked together for over ten years at Tg5, in a professional partnership that began in the 1990s, when Mentana was editor-in-chief and Capuozzo was one of the main war correspondents and later deputy editor. “Farewell to Toni Capuozzo, a friend with a big heart, an inimitable correspondent, a man of depth, sincerity and firm principles. We shall miss you in every way, starting with your humanity,” commented Tg5 editor-in-chief Clemente Mimun.