Farewell to Bonacina, protagonist of social journalism

The last piece he signed was on the great psychiatrist Eugenio Borgna who died last week. A figure of dialogue, as was journalist Riccardo Bonacina, who passed away at the age of 70. Capable of building bridges and casting a fresh eye on social issues, he had courageously founded Vita, the third sector magazine.

Born in Lecco in 1954, a journalist since 1985, after experience at Fininvest and RAI, in 1994 Riccardo founded Vita, which at the time many called 'L'Espresso del sociale'. The first issue came out on 27 October 1994. 'An almost clandestine newspaper,' recalls the current editor-in-chief of Vita, Stefano Arduini, on the website, 'certainly rebellious, born out of "a fit of rage", as he liked to recall, in the face of the fact that in the media diet of the time, social issues and civil commitment were considered ancillary: good deeds by good people, but which in the end counted for little. That was not the case. And 30 years of history prove that that intuition, built on the basis of an alliance between a group of journalists and a network of non-profit organisations (the editorial board), had grasped a real need for representation and storytelling'.

The first to publicly remember him was Matteo Renzi in the Senate in the morning. Then came the condolences of the mayor of Lombardy's capital: 'Milan and journalism lose one of the voices that best recounted the emergencies and social and civil battles of our time,' Giuseppe Sala wrote on social media. He will be missed by the Milanese community and by our country. The entire world of the third sector - from Telefono Azzurro to Aiccon, from Federsolidarietà to the Cgm Consortium - has remembered his vision and activism: he was not just a witness and narrator of a sector - the civil economy - but a passionate and participating protagonist.

The funeral will take place on Friday 13 December 2024 at 11 a.m. in the Basilica of Sant'Eustorgio (Piazza Sant'Eustorgio 1) in Milan.