Born in 1953, after graduating from the University of Milan with a degree in law, Ferruccio De Bortoli began his journalism career at the Corriere dei Ragazzi in 1973, and then went on to work at the Corriere d’Informazione, Corriere della Sera and the Europeo.
In 1987 he returned to Corriere della Sera as the chief economics editor, and in 1993 he was promoted by Paolo Mieli and became sub-editor. He became the editor of Corriere della Sera in 1997.
He worked at the top Italian newspaper until 2003, when Stefano Folli took his place. Before becoming the editor of Confindustria’s daily newspaper, he was number one at RCS Libri.