Eni Publishing - a beautiful energy story

In 1955, Mattei decided it was time to give Eni its own magazine. A proper magazine, not a corporate publication, which should base its credibility on its writers, starting from the Editor. And for this reason, the publishing project was entrusted to a great intellectual, writer and poet - Attilio Bertolucci - whom Mattei himself enlightened on the objective of creating a modern magazine, which could be read by anyone with interest, from the President of the Republic to Eni’s well drillers, and which shouldn’t just give an account of the company’s successes, but also be able to talk about the reality outside the company. The founder of the Six-Legged Dog welcomed Bertolucci’s advice to call the magazine “Il Gatto Selvatico”, i.e. “wildcat”, a slang used to define the first oil explorers. Over its ten years of publication,ending in 1965, “Il Gatto Selvatico” hosted great figures of the Italian literature and cultural scene: Giorgio Caproni, Alfonso Gatto, Filiberto Menna, Carlo Cassola, Carlo Emilio Gadda, Leonardo Sciascia, Raffaele La Capria, Enzo Siciliano and many others, called to talk about Italian and foreign literature.

In those years, while Eni was creating its unique and inspired house organ, Mattei was still battling with the aftermath of the idealistic and political battle that had led him to successfully found the company. In particular, he had to deal with the ideological accusations of those who wanted to free the space taken by the powerhouse, in favour of private companies. Conscious of the need of a cultural and journalistic conversation, capable of speaking to present and future Italian ruling classes, Mattei was one of the protagonists of the foundation of Il Giorno newspaper, in 1956 in Milan, as one of the major shareholders. The newspaper - apart from its innovative graphic and publishing aspects - was a hotbed and a school for many young journalists of the time, and for generations to come. It was sold in 1997 to Poligrafici Editoriale S.p.A..

Agenzia Italia, founded in 1950 in Rome by journalist Giulio De Marzio and lawyer Walter Prosperetti, was sold to Eni in 1965. AGI provides a near-comprehensive service, not only in Italy but also abroad, thanks to global partnerships and a network of correspondents. 

Initiated by Gianna Rocca, head of the press office during Raffaele Girotti’s presidency, Ecos also saw the collaboration of leading figures in Italian literature. These include Primo Levi, Alberto Bevilacqua, Giorgio Saviane and Roberto Vacca, as well as renowned illustrators and photographers such as Carla Accardi, Giovanni Hajnal, Lucio Castagneri, Francesco Manzini, Emilio Tadini and Giovanni Tinelli. Inspired by the same philosophy as the “Il Gatto Selvatico”, its name was chosen because it is short and easy to remember: it refers to the “E” in “Eni” and “energy”, as well as to the words “economy” and “ecology”. Published in Italian and English, with an average of a hundred pages per issue, Ecos was published bimonthly and distributed free of charge to group employees and figures in politics, economics, culture and journalism, both in Italy and abroad. A communication tool that addressed Eni employees and the outside world in a unique language, it was an innovative solution for the time, geared towards illustrating the group’s activities and connecting distant countries. In its thirty years of existence, hundreds of reports were produced on five continents, translated into a number of languages. Ecos was the first business magazine in the West to produce and distribute special issues in Chinese and to publish Kazakh and Cyrillic versions. Thirty years after its first issue, Ecos magazine was replaced by the new quarterly Eni’s way Magazine, which continues to report on changes in the energy world.

In May 2008, Eni unveiled a new and ambitious editorial project to be distributed on newsstands in major bookstores and as a supplement to newspapers and magazines on special occasions. The publication was called Oil Magazine, a quarterly magazine in tabloid format designed to provide in-depth analysis and high-level debate on energy, environmental sustainability and development. The first issue, which was distributed to Italian and international readers in companies and academic institutions, featured an exclusive interview with renowned Israeli writer Abraham Yehoshua. The magazine was conceived under the leadership of an editorial board headed by Lucia Annunziata.

In 2017, after almost a decade of publication, the quarterly underwent a series of changes and was rebranded as WE - World Energy. Exclusive reference to ‘Oil’ had become too narrow for Eni’s activities and for the horizons towards which we are moving today. The extensive archive - with 230 interviews, 400 articles and 750 maps and infographics - remains a legacy that forms the deep roots of WE - World Energy. 

In 2018, Eni’s portfolio of print publications was further expanded with a new addition: a monthly magazine called Orizzonti, idee dalla Basilicata, entirely dedicated to Val d’Agri, home to Europe’s largest onshore hydrocarbon deposit. 

Taking up the baton of the Professione Gestore magazine, founded in 1973 with the aim of describing the world of Refining and Marketing business, Protagonista was born in 2022, the multimedia magazine distributed in Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which is aimed at Enilive managers Stations which are entrusted with the fundamental task of interpreting the change of scenario on the Enilive network.