Giuseppe Pasquale Marra, known as Pippo (1936), is an Italian journalist and publisher, owner and director of AdnKronos, the Italian multichannel news agency based in Rome. He received the Magna Grecia International Award for his commitment to strengthening cultural relations between Italy and its new adopted lands, presented to him by the President of the Magna Grecia International Association, Nino Foti, during the second edition of the Magna Grecia International Week held in Toronto in 1998.

Born in Castelsilano, a town on the Crotone-Cosenza route, to a family of Calabrian origin, he finished his high school studies at the Pitagora classical high school in Crotone, to enrol in university attending the faculty of Law. Already in his university years, he became interested in issues related to information and communication, founding and taking over the direction of various student publications.

Later in Rome, he became a consultant to the National Institute of Political and Economic Studies, then directed by Epicarpo Corbino. In the same years, he began his journalistic activity as a trainee in the editorial staff of the "Secolo d'Italia", the newspaper of the Italian Social Movement, and directed the FUAN movement, the University Front of National Action.

In 1965 he was enrolled in the Register of Journalists and since then he has pursued a parallel career as an administrative manager and journalist.

Later he also began his publishing activity, acquiring control of the photo reportage agency Fotovedo. Between 1967 and 1968 he made journalistic documentaries on major domestic and international issues and the following year, first from Stockholm and then from Copenhagen, he directed a communication and image company with a center of interest in northern Europe.

Returning to Italy in 1970, he joined the AdnKronos news agency as an archivist photographer and was later appointed administrative and editorial director of the same agency.

From 1972 to 1975 Marra worked as a consultant to the Montedison Group for editorial problems and subsequently became a shareholder and director of the newspaper "Roma" based in Naples and of the "Quotidiano di Lecce, Brindisi e Taranto".

In 1978, increasingly convinced of the great potential of primary information, through "Piemme Editoriale Finanziaria Spa", he bought 50% of the shares of the AdnKronos news agency from the pharmaceutical industrialist Fulvio Bracco and started an activity of diversification of information and communication, placing the themes of technological innovation in the means of news transmission at the center of this strategy.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Marra entered into a partnership with the major international primary press groups: the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, China's Xinhua and Germany's Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).

In 1982 he founded "AdnKronos Libri" which began to publish instant books on the main emerging issues of domestic and international politics, later producing over thirty volumes a year.

In 1984, together with the position of Sole Director, he assumed the position of director of AdnKronos and in 1986 he founded "AdnKronos Comunicazione" for corporate communication strategies. From that moment on, the other companies of the AdnKronos Group were born like rain drops, currently being held in high regard among Italian companies in the field of information and communication.

In 1987 he launched the "AdnKronos Audiovisivi" division in the field of television information and in the production of programs and fiction for major national networks. In 1990 it acquired 98% of the shares of Piemme Editoriale Finanziaria S.p.A., the Group's holding company, of which it now holds 100% under the name "GMC Giuseppe Marra Communications S.p.A.".

In 1991, on the occasion of a trip to the United States following President Cossiga on a visit to the White House, Marra saw a book resting on the President's desk, the World Almanac and Book of Facts, and drew inspiration from it to create and disseminate in Italy a useful tool that contained information on the most important events of the previous year in order to offer readers a reasoned reconstruction of current events.

In 1995 he founded "AdnKronos Salute s.r.l.", specialized in medical-scientific and health information in general. In 2011, this same agency, strongly supported by Marra, edited the first scientific television channel "Doctor's Life", dedicated to general practitioners, specialists, dentists and pharmacists.

In 1994, Marra presented a multimedia project at the New York Information Conference to network Italians around the world. This is how the Italy Global Nation (IGN) portal was born.

In 1997, with Bill Gates and Microsoft, he created “Musei online” on the Internet, obtaining recognition from UNESCO and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage.

In 1998 the mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari, awarded him the Venice '98 Prize for the multimedia and cultural activities carried out by the AdnKronos Group.

In 1991 Marra was bestowed the title of “Commendatore” on the proposal of the Presidency of the Republic and on 2 June 1999, he was also awarded the title of “Cavaliere del Lavoro”.

In 2000 he received the honorary citizenship of Crotone and Castelsilano, his hometown, which was later followed by the honorary citizenship of the Municipality of Anguillara.

In 2004, the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Foggia awarded him an honorary degree in Economics and Commerce for "his important personal contribution and his prolonged and utmost commitment to supporting journalism, publishing and cultural initiatives in general".

In 2011 he was appointed Vice-President of the Foundation of Calabrians in the World.

Over the years, Marra has received several awards for his work in the publishing and cultural fields: from the award of the International Rotary Club District 2100 Calabria, the Circeo award from the Italy-Germany Association, the Ischia Award in 2009 for journalism in the field of news agencies, to the prestigious recognition by the Amalfi Coast Media Award in the 2010 edition.

Over the years, the AdnKronos Group has committed itself to a diversification strategy that has led to the creation of: Immediapress, MAK Multimedia AdnKronos, Lab Italia and AKI, AdnKronos International.

Currently, the AdnKronos Group holds a position of excellence among Italian companies in the field of information and communication, with over 300 employees and collaborators, of which more than a hundred are journalists.