Il Pensiero, whose name means “The Thought,” is the Italian-language newspaper of St. Louis. It dates its start to 1904, and it is still being published in 2026, carrying news from Italy alongside news of the region’s Italian American community, much of it centered on The Hill. In 1994 its publisher estimated that only about 11 Italian ethnic newspapers were still operating in America.
Beginnings in 1904
The St. Louis Media History Foundation lists Il Pensiero as active from 1904 onward, and the Hill 2000 business directory describes the publication as having served continuously since that year. A St. Louis County Library genealogy newsletter from October 2025 likewise notes that the paper has appeared since 1904, mostly in Italian with some articles in English.
The sources reviewed for this article do not name the people who founded the paper or edited it in its earliest decades, so that part of the story remains to be documented.
The Lombardo era
The name most closely tied to the modern paper is Lombardo. The Media History Foundation, which inducted Antonio Lombardo into its Halls of Fame in 2014, says he has led Il Pensiero since 1967. The paper’s own website spells the publisher’s first name Antonino.
A 1994 profile from the St. Louis Journalism Review, reprinted by the foundation, offers a snapshot of how the paper worked at that time:
- It came out every two weeks, with a press run of about 5,000 copies.
- Roughly half went by mail to subscribers; the rest were handed out in stores, chiefly on The Hill.
- Lombardo often assembled each issue largely by himself, sometimes helped by his wife, Lina, and daughter, Linda. His brother-in-law, Anthony Gandolfo, was described as his partner.
- With no money for a reporting staff, the paper drew on the AGI news service and a fax machine supplied by the Italian government.
- Advertisers, many of them Hill businesses, and Italian clubs kept it going.
“We are known as an ethnic paper,” Lombardo told the Journalism Review, explaining that much of its material came from Italy and was written in Italian. He also said that the city’s Hungarian, Polish and German papers had disappeared, leaving Il Pensiero as the last of its kind locally. The same profile notes that President Bill Clinton sent a letter marking the paper’s 90th birthday.
A record of Hill life
Beyond news from Italy, the paper has chronicled the neighborhood itself. Writing for La Voce di New York in 2019, Cybele S. Cornelison recalled becoming absorbed in the paper’s articles on Hill residents’ yearly activities and on neighborhood clubs such as its bocce and golf groups. The Media History Foundation calls it the only Italian-language newspaper in Missouri and Southern Illinois and says it has helped the regional Italian-American community hold on to its heritage.
Il Pensiero in 2026
The paper remains in print. Its website lists Antonino Lombardo and Carina Marino as publishers and Anthony Gandolfo as managing editor, and gives an office address of 10001 Stonell Drive, St. Louis, MO 63123. Issues are titled by month and posted online through Issuu; the October 2026 edition was uploaded on September 29, 2026. The paper’s About Us page describes it as the only Italian newspaper published in Missouri.
The publication schedule appears to have changed over time. The 1994 profile describes an issue every two weeks, the Hall of Fame entry calls it bi-monthly, and the current issues are released under monthly titles.
For a neighborhood whose story begins with immigrant workers, as told in our article on the clay mines and immigrant origins of The Hill, Il Pensiero is one of the longest-running links between St. Louis and Italy.
For more on the neighborhood’s past, see our History of The Hill timeline.
Sources: St. Louis Media History Foundation (Il Pensiero), St. Louis Media History Foundation (Antonio Lombardo), Il Pensiero, Il Pensiero, About Us, Il Pensiero on Issuu, Hill 2000 business directory, St. Louis County Library, PastPorts (October 2025), La Voce di New York
