TRIESTE – The first messages arrived shortly after 6 in the morning: immediate feedback on the work done the previous day. A dry word: “hole”, if the competition had some more news or “good” if the work had been good. This was one of the hallmarks of Omar Monestierdirector of the newspapers Il Piccolo and Messaggero Veneto, and former director of the Venetian newspapers of the Gedi group (Mattino di Padova, Nuova Venezia, Tribuna di Treviso, Corriere delle Alpi).
He died suddenly in his sleep, at the age of 57, in the house of Moruzzo, in the province of Udine, where he had lived since he had taken over the direction of the newspapers in Friuli. Originally from Belluno, he began his career as a local chronicler, narrating the mountain communities after having listened to and understood them. Listening and understanding were also the hallmarks of his profession as a director.
Born on September 23, 1964, Monestier came from the school of Paolo Pagliaro e Fabio Barbieri, with whom he had worked side by side for many years. Inside chronicler, he has never lost his love for facts, for people’s stories, for the testimonies of the protagonists of every newspaper article. Did you interview the victim? Have you heard the counterpart? Have you contacted the parties directly concerned? “I still enjoy doing this job”, she told her work colleagues until the last day, whom he really talked to with messages and phone calls from the early morning. Unusual for journalists, whose production cycle traditionally starts much later in the day. He loved battles. “But we don’t have to win them”, he repeated, as if to say that the important thing was to have an identity, to stand out from the competition.
Professional journalist since 1992, he had worked on the “breaking latest news of Verona” directed by Paolo Pagliaro, holding the position of deputy head of the department of the province. He had also become the head of the city news service there, where he remained until September 1994, when he left Verona to go to Bolzano to “Il Mattino dell’Alto Adige”, with the role of editor-in-chief, alongside the editorial director. Giampaolo Visetti.
In 2000, the arrival at the then Espresso group, the large Repubblica family. monestier he took up the post of deputy director of “Il Mattino di Padova”, to which the deputy directorate of the other Venetians had also been added. An experience lived together with Fabio Barbieri, who in the meantime from Repubblica had been put at the helm of the network of local newspapers that were directed by Alberto Statera e Giovanni Valentini. Barbieri and Monestier focus on hyper local, then also forcing competitors to follow that path to try to match the results. Then, with the untimely death of Barbieri, Monestier took over the leadership of the Mattino di Padova. Between 2014 and 2016 he also directed the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Omar Monestier leaves his wife Sara and four children Benedetta, Tommaso and the twins Giovanni and Giulio. The funeral will probably be celebrated on Thursday in Mel, in the province of Belluno, but the date will be decided in the next few hours.
“He left us prematurely, on tiptoe, a great from Belluno, a true Venetian, a journalist respected in Veneto, but also in other regions of Italy, where he left his indelible mark such as Friuli and Trentino. touch of his pen can not be forgotten, for the subtlety, for the concreteness and for the respect and search for truth that have always distinguished his articles, thus elevating him also executive and high-level roles “, wrote the governor Luca Zaia.
“Deep sorrow for the disappearance of a man of character, of deep intelligence and great correctness, human and professional, who in his career as a journalist has shown himself to be a great director for the newspapers he runs, starting with Messaggero Veneto and from Il Piccolo “, said the president of Friuli Venezia Giulia instead Massimiliano Fedriga.
“He was not Tuscan, but he had arrived in Tuscany with the desire to know and tell, the standard bearer of that curiosity which is the most important ingredient of the journalist’s profession and with the desire to explain to readers, and therefore to citizens, in an objective way and without making discounts to anyone: a contribution, as a journalist, to the growth of the company. The president of Tuscany expresses condolences to the family “, said the president of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani.
“The sudden untimely death of Omar Monestier, director of ‘Il Piccolò and’ Messaggero Venetò made me remain silent, heartbroken at the thought of how short and fleeting the life of a man is, an intelligent and acute person who in these years I got to know and appreciate, “he said Roberto Dipiazzamayor of Trieste.