Italian edition of the Huffington Post launches Tuesday

The Italian edition of the Huffington Post is set to go live on the web Tuesday. Arianna Huffington - the Greek-American journalist and author who founded the online news website - will be in Milan for the launch, along with the director for the Italian edition, Lucia Annunziata. Annuziata is a well-known journalist, manager and veteran of political controversy. She has been president of public television RAI, written several books and won honors including the Nieman "genius" grant at Harvard University. Annuziata has said the Italian blog portal will start with about 200 bloggers and build up to at least 600. Collaborators include noteworthy and polarizing figures like the rightwing ex-finance minister under Silvio Berlusconi, Silvio Tremonti, the leftwing secretary general of the industrial workers' union FIOM-CGIL, Maurizio Landini, the outspoken sister of a young man who died in police custody, Ilaria Cucchi and diehard Berlusconi loyalist Daniela Santache'. After its success in in the USA, the Huffington Post has expanded to Canada, Great Britain, France and Spain. In addition to Italy, the Huffington Post is starting editions in Germany, Brazil and India. Huffington herself will be in Rome Wednesday for an interview with television host Franco Di Mare on the theme of female leadership. The Italian edition of the Huffington Post is a partnership between the Huffington Post's parent company, the AOL Group, and Gruppo Editoriale l'Espresso, publisher of one of Italy's most successful weekly news magazines, L'Espresso.