Both of TIME'S chief reporters for the cover story on Italy's Communist Leader Enrico Berlinguer are of Italian descent and in some measure "native." By this happenstance, they could both melt into the Italian ambiance and simultaneously keep the distancing perspective that they both have as U.S. citizens. The result is a unique reportage of Italy's troubled times.

Rome Bureau Chief Jordan Bonfante, who followed Berlinguer to the green hill towns of Calabria, is the son of a distinguished linguistics professor who migrated to the U.S. in the '30s and settled in New Jersey, where he taught for many years at Princeton University Consequently, his son got his education in that area (Lawrenceville, Princeton High School, Columbia University) and, after an apprenticeship in local newspapers, joined TIME-LIFE in 1962.

Erik Amfitheatrof devoted himself to the campaign of Christian Democratic Premier Aldo Moro, following him to the sun-baked region of Puglia at the heel of Italy's boot. Like Bonfante, Amfitheatrof is a man between two worlds. He was born in Milan, but his composer-father moved soon afterward to Los Angeles. After Harvard, Erik returned to Italy, as a sometime freelance, later as a staff member of TIME-LIFE Books. During this time, he turned out a book on the history of Italian-Americans, The Children of Columbus. Amfitheatrof has run up against the usual double take when people ask his name. Explains he: "In Italy, the custom is to spell out your name using an Italian city to represent each letter. In my case, it is Ancona, Milano, Firenze, Imola, etc. By the time I'm through, I've toured the country."

Other watchers of the Italian scene helped out with the story. Reporter Walter Galling went to Bologna to cover the speeches of Christian Democratic Party Secretary Benigno Zaccagnini, and Reporter M.J. Wilson traveled to Naples on the heels of the Christian Democrats' ever-happy warrior, Amintore Fanfani. Stringer Maria Ondone flew to Sardinia to interview Berlinguer's relatives, friends and former teachers There she unearthed documents that included his baptismal certificate and an early appeal for free assembly that he wrote (in English) in 1944 to the Allied Military Government in Sardinia when he was secretary of the local Committee of Communist Youth.

Last week the Newspaper Guild of New York called a strike against Time Inc., the first in the company's 54-year history. During negotiations Time Inc. had already reached agreement with the Guild on many benefits and improvements, but several major issues remain in dispute. The company regrets the strike action because it considered its contract proposals fair and generous. Throughout the strike, Time Inc will continue to publish, on the usual schedule, all its magazines--TIME, FORTUNE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, PEOPLE, MONEY --as well as TIME-LIFE Books.

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