Condé Nast Italy to Offer Free Digital Issues Amid Coronavirus Lockdown

Sandra Salibian
·3 min read

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MILAN — As Italians are urged to stay at home amid a national lockdown until April 3, Condé Nast Italy is offering digital copies of all its titles for free for the next three months.

Starting from March 13, readers will be able to access Condé Nast’s content and browse the digital pages of titles including Vogue, GQ, Wired, AD, La Cucina Italiana and Condé Nast Traveller, following the instructions reported on each magazine’s web site and app. In addition, La Scuola de La Cucina Italiana — the publisher’s gastronomic magazine — will offer free passes to access its digital cooking classes.

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“In a moment like this one, in which the priority is the national health, our mission continues to be the one to inform and entertain, and to do so in the correct way,” said Condé Nast Italia chief executive officer Fedele Usai. “Our [initiative] is just a small signal intended to try to give back something to the community. It’s important that everybody do their part.”

The project follows the publishing company’s launch earlier this week of a Vanity Fair Italy issue dedicated to Milan and distributed for free in the Lombardy region, one of the most severely hit by the COVID-19 outbreak.

As reported, 64 personalities in the worlds of fashion, art, business, entertainment, culture and public institutions, as well as citizens who are distinguishing themselves during the health crisis with their work and dedication, were asked in the issue to talk about their relationship with the city and how they are facing this moment of hardship.

Personalities included Miuccia Prada, who in an interview talked about the life of her parents in Milan during World War II; Giorgio Armani, who wrote an emotional love letter to Milan; Tod’s chairman and ceo Diego Della Valle; Yoox Net-a-porter chairman and ceo Federico Marchetti, and Gucci president and ceo Marco Bizzarri, among others.

Condé Nast Italy is not the only company showing proximity to Italians through digitalization. The country’s ministry for technological innovation and digitalization has published on its web site a list of companies and the respective free services they have launched to support citizens and firms.

Media-wise, daily papers La Repubblica and La Stampa adopted Condé Nast’s approach and are offering free subscriptions to their digital copies.

On demand video-streaming platform Infinity doubled its usual schedule, offering two months of free trial to access its catalogue of movies, TV series and cartoons.

Telecommunications companies Tim, Vodafone and WindTre are contributing, providing packages of extra or unlimited Internet traffic for mobile phones for free. Also powered by Tim, the WeSchool platform facilitates e-learning enabling teachers to share classes online and hold lessons via streaming, as well as handle tests and exams. In addition, subscriptions to the Smart Tales library of interactive books for children aged from three to six will be free for three months.

Cisco Italia and IBM are providing free access to the Cisco Webex Meetings digital platform, which allows users to schedule and take part in meetings remotely, share work documents and data. Microsoft, Connexia and Joinconference are among the other tech firms implementing free tools and consultations to facilitate smart-working for companies.

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