The magazine

Creating culture ‘to live better’: this has been the ambition of ‘Studi cattolici’ since its very first issue. This monthly magazine of studies and current affairs is one of the most prestigious and long-standing Italian cultural magazines, whose history began in the then Roman headquarters of Edizioni Ares, founded in 1956 with the same intention.

A Christian-inspired culture that is open to dialogue and pluralism, and that respects its own identity and the identities of others. A culture built day after day through a continuous exchange, almost by osmosis, between the magazine and book production, ranging from fiction to non-fiction, philosophy, theology, spirituality, pedagogy and history, and even poetry and theatre.

Many topics and different ways to broaden critical thinking about reality: a laboratory of ideas that intercepts different currents of thought, some born in the past, all alive in the present and destined to shape the future of our society. An ideal read for those wishing to immerse themselves in an analysis of contemporary life that goes beyond the ephemeral nature of current events.

Since 1966, Ares, which moved to Milan in 1965, has been led by Cesare Cavalleri, a journalist and literary critic who has maintained a brilliant dialogue with the diverse cultural world of the 20th century. He also discovered Ares’s publishing success, Eugenio Corti’s historical novel Il cavallo rosso (The Red Horse), which Cavalleri recognised as having “the spirit of War and Peace”. Today, with over thirty editions and more than half a million copies sold, it boasts translations into all major foreign languages, including Japanese. Following the author’s death, Sébastien Lapaque dedicated these words to him in Le Figaro: “One of the great writers of our time, one of the greatest”.

The long-time director of Edizioni Ares and Studi Cattolici received several awards, including the International Gold Medal for Catholic Culture (previously awarded to Augusto Del Noce, Cardinals Joseph Ratzinger and Giacomo Biffi, Monsignor Luigi Giussani, economist Michael Novak and Maestro Riccardo Muti) and the Ambrogino d’Oro. Following his death in December 2022, in keeping with his vision of creating culture ‘for a better life’, Andrea Beolchi took over the editorship of the magazine and Alessandro Rivali became the editor of Edizioni Ares.

Ares (the Association for Research and Studies) was established as a non-profit organisation by Presidential Decree No. 549 of 27 January 1966. Independent of political or partisan groups, it pursues economic self-sufficiency through sales, subscriptions, and advertising from institutions and companies that support cultural initiatives.

The “Studi Cattolici” publication benefits from direct contributions to newspaper and magazine publishers, as set out in Legislative Decree No. 70 of 15 May 2017, 70 as amended and supplemented.