On the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary, Panorama, the first Italian newsmagazine, treats its readers with a special edition issue which chronicles half a century of Italian and international news that changed people’s habits and lifestyles. Fifty years of hopes, scientific and technological progress, victories of freedom and democracy, but also wars and attacks: all of the above through unpublished contributions by celebrity spokespersons..

“This edition celebrating our 50 years – Panorama’s director Giorgio Mulè declares – could not limit itself to a simple retrospective, but it necessarily had to have the courage to look in prospect. To do so, we selected prestigious names from all over the world, authoritative witnesses from our times who, after having analyzed our past, tell us with autonomy of thoughts what to expect from the future. These articles represent at best the spirit which has always guided Panorama: freedom of ideas” Mulè concludes.

Among the personalities involved for the occasion are some stars of international politics such as Mikhail Gorbaciov and José María Aznar, but also leading figures from the scientific world (Ilaria Capua, John Barrow) and social studies (Giuseppe De Rita, Enrico Giovannini, Luisa Cavalli Sforza), also involving fashion (Dolce e Gabbana) and music gurus (Zucchero), for a trip to the center of current affairs, economy, culture and traditions: every topic is interpreted through the eyes of its protagonists.

In addition to unpublished contributions, the pages of the special issue are enriched by photographs and other anthology materials from the precious archive of the magazine, founded in October 1962: the same year in which the Beatles published their first record, Marilyn Monroe had been found dead in Los Angeles, Enrico Mattei’s plane crashed under mysterious circumstances and in the news stand appeared the first issue of Diabolik.

Since then, the entire Italian social, economical and cultural environment has undergone deep transformations, into which this Panorama special issue delves, comparing stages and numbers of the change: the average number of family components passed from 3,6 to 2,4 and registered foreigners grew from less than 63.000 to over 4 million and a half. Even daily habits have changed: we have almost quadruplicated beer consumption (29 liters a year per person), we go less to the movies (112 million today compared to over 728 million spectators at the beginning of the ‘60s) but much more to the theater (over 22 million spectators today vs. almost 10 in the early ‘60s): a panoramic glance over 50 years of history, also through records, movies, books and objects which have become real cults.