Il Becco Giallo


Il Becco Giallo was an antifascist satirical magazine in the 1920s in Italy. The magazine existed between 1924 and 1926.

History and profile

Il Becco Giallo was founded by Alberto Giannini in 1924. The editorial column of the first issue sided clearly against fascism:
we support with all our energy the opposition, which heroically resists the fascist regime of dictatorial violence that has inverted all moral values and through terrorism enslaved Italy to a band of raiders, and defies every day the most brutal aggression and struggle for suppressed freedom for the trampled thousand-year old Italian justice, for the restoration of constitutional guarantees, to restore prestige to Italy in the world.

Luigi Pirandello, for his devotion to Benito Mussolini, was one of Becco Giallo's satirical targets, and used to be called P.Randello. In 1926 the fascist regime forced Giannini to close it and emigrate to France.
In the same period, two magazines emerged in Italy that were characterized for developing an innovative surreal humour, the Bertoldo and the Marc'Aurelio; the authors of these magazines were reactionaries that avoided political satire to comply with the regime.