- published: 08 May 2016
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La Gazzetta dello Sport is an Italian newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. It was first published on April 3, 1896, allowing it to cover the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens. Its role extends beyond news reporting and features, to direct involvement in major events, including (since 1909) organization of the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) cycling stage race.
The newspaper, published on pink paper, sells over 400,000 copies daily (more on Mondays when readers want to catch up on the weekend's events), and can claim a readership in excess of three million. A sports magazine, Sportweek, is sold with other newspaper on Saturdays.
Although a wide range of sports are covered in the newspaper, football is given by far most of the coverage. With some 24-28 pages out of 40 devoted to the sport on a daily basis, much of the journalism is speculative and sensationalist rather than the pure reporting of matches. The paper has a good record for campaigning journalism, and played a significant part in exposing the 2006 Serie A scandal that rocked Italian football and led to the relegation of Juventus and points penalties for other leading clubs. The largest and best supported teams in Italy, and especially the Milan teams of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan, and Turin team of Juventus dominate the coverage.
La gazzetta, ossia Il matrimonio per concorso (The Newspaper, or The Marriage Contest) is an opera buffa by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giuseppe Palomba after Carlo Goldoni's play Il matrimonio per concorso of 1763.
The opera satirizes the influence of newspapers on people's lives. It was a great success in its time. As was his wont, Rossini borrowed melodic fragments from some of his previous works, Il Turco in Italia being the largest contributor. The overture is probably the best known piece from the opera, because, along with other music from La gazzetta, it was incorporated into La Cenerentola.
The opera was first performed on 26 September 1816 at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples.
The opera tells the story of a pretentious Neapolitan, Don Pomponio Storione, who travels the world in search of a husband for his daughter, putting ads in the newspapers. He arrives in a city, and after a series of ridiculously inadequate suitors, such as the Quaker Monsù Traversen or the waiter at the hotel, who usually end up beating poor Pomponio, he finally resigns to let his daughter marry her lover, the only suitor he seems to consider inappropriate.