Franco Battel becomes new Italy correspondent

The 47-year-old is familiar with all forms of journalistic radio work. He began his career at Swiss radio and television in the editorial department of the Zurich/Schaffhausen regional journal. He then worked as a Zurich correspondent and at "Echo der Zeit".

Franco Battel has been the foreign editor responsible for Italy, Mexico, Central America, Cuba and Liechtenstein since 2008 and has been reporting from the UN headquarters in Geneva for the past year. In spring 2015, he will take up the position of Italy correspondent, succeeding Massimo Agostinis, who is returning to Switzerland at the end of the year.

Franco Battel has been familiar with Italy since his studies. He studied history and constitutional law in Zurich and Rome. Since then, he has continued to study the country intensively and has traveled there regularly. Last year, as foreign editor and project manager, he was responsible for preparing coverage of the Italian elections.

Martin Durrer, Head of Foreign Editorial: "We are delighted to have found a journalist for the correspondent position in Italy in Franco Battel, who has a wealth of experience and is already heavily involved with Italy."