We just got a note from our colleague in London, Michael Parsons, who is helping launch two new Wired editions across the pond, Wired Italia and Wired UK.
Wired.it launched at 6.00AM GMT, we're based in London as part of a network of sites called Wired International which will be based out of the London HQ of CondeNet International. The plan is that the next site, wired.co.uk will launch in April. Both launches were timed to support the launch of new print editions of Wired being published by CondeNast International, there was a launch party for Wired in Italy last night in Milan and I believe there are the inevitable Facebook book party shots floating around...see below.
The Editor of Wired in Italy is a journalist called Riccardo Luna, whose team based in Milan are extremely passionate about Wired - they point out that as Louis Rossetto, the magazine's founder, is of Italian descent, so it's really a question of Wired returning to its ancestral home You can see a version of Riccardo's opening column on the Wired.it site homepage and magazine section, it's called Login.
The magazine launched with a daring cover image of Rita
Levi-Montalcini, an extremely distinguished Italian scientist still going strong at a 100 years old.The Wired.it site is based out of London and is edited by Isabella
Panizza Cutler, a very experienced Italian journalist also like
Riccardo originally from Rome, now based in London where has she written for many Conde Nast Italia titles such as Vanity Fair, and GQ, and who is working with a great network of writers and photographers in Italy to fuel the site's news, reviews, and video content. As well as of course publishing the bulk of the magazine's content and making it available online, Wired.it publishes original news, reviews, video and photography, (check out the great "How to Shoot a bear" feature story on the home page), a news analysis about how organised criminals in Italy are turning away from hand-written notes and to VOIP
telephony, a piece about how an Italian motorcycling clothing company is developing airbag suits for motorcyclists, and a look at how Twitter is taking off in Italy, where it's still very small in comparison to
Facebook, which is a relatively new hit in the Italian market and still the social media tool that's creating buzz.I'm leading the editorial push across the Wired International group of sites, I used to be editorial director of CNET Networks UK, now CBS
Interactive UK where I launched CNET.co.uk and managed Gamespot.co.uk, before that was on the launch team of John Battelle's Industry Standard in San Francisco and launched the European Edition in London.Why do Wired International from London? Well, the truth is we're publishing content from all over the world and have plugged into some great editorial talent in Italy, just as Wired.com has always worked with writers from all over the world, and the reality is that it's both cost effective to make the best of a modest editorial investment by consolidating it in one place but also great for exchanging ideas and expertise, for example Georgia Scaturro our Science Editor is Italian, while Katie Scott, our Technology Editor, is English. Holden Frith, editor of Wired.co.uk, formerly technology editor for Times Online, covered Mobile World
Congress for us and we ran his translated content in Italian on
Wired.it, so we think it's an efficient model during a period when we've got to make every Euro count. The next Wired International site, Wired.co.uk, launches in April. Now back to bed to catch up on zzzzzs..." By the way, don't miss the nice interview with Leander to support the Italian launch of his book on Jobs (who knew he spoke such great Italian? ;)
As always, love to hear from smart people who know the Italian market and would like to write or do photos and videos for Wired.it.All the best,
Michael Parsons, Wired International Channel Manager
