Born in Rome in 1946, Barbara Spinelli co-founded the daily La Repubblica and worked for Corriere della Sera until joining La Stampa, where she has been writing editorials since 1985. Spinelli, who took her degree in philosophy and specialised as a journalist in Central and Eastern Europe, is the daughter of Altiero Spinelli, a leading anti-Fascist and founder of the European Federalist Movement that was to give rise to the Union of European Federalists.