• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 17, 2010

It could be said that the launch of any new magazine is a voyage. Viaggio, a new magazine published by super chef Mario Batali and his business partner Joe Bastianich literally is one.

"Our title has many meanings," Batali explains in the magazine's introductory column, citing, "the trip, the voyage, the journey."

The new bimonthly, distributed in the restaurants and shops owned by Batali and Bastianich, is the latest project by editorial raconteur Bob Guccione Jr. (Spin, Discover, Gear, etc.), who has a passion for food, wine and publishing, and now says he is developing other projects that combine all three.

Media Daily News: Why publish a magazine about the restaurants it is distributed in?

Bob Guccione Jr.: Hopefully, it will enhance the dining experience and the understanding of the elements that contribute to that experience. We've become much more sophisticated as a dining public, and realize an awful lot more goes into a great meal. The culinary experience of Joe and Mario is so strong, and this goes a long way to explaining what really goes on. It also helps familiarize people who come to the restaurants with other restaurants in the group.

But most of all, it's a labor of love -- an attempt to share the passions behind making these kinds of spectacular restaurants. Those passions include a real love for ingredients and an understanding of the sources of the food. I don't think people realize how seriously these guys get immersed in the microscopic differences that contribute to the making of great food. Finally, it's about the love of Italy and the love of European food culture and wine culture.

Media Daily News: What led you on this journey?

Guccione: Mario and I are friends. And we have a couple of other little plans up our sleeves. We were having lunch one day, and saw a giveaway magazine in the restaurant that was promoting the restaurant, and said, 'Why don't we do this, create a magazine?' For me, it was one of the least thought out decisions I've ever made, and for Mario, too.

It's sort of a fanzine. Bob and Mario's excellent adventure.

Media Daily News: If the medium is the message, what kind of message is a restaurant?

Guccione: A great restaurant is the successful coming together of ambition, imagination and dedication to a fineness -- more than quality a fineness. A great restaurant is more than a place to eat, of course. It's also a bit of wonderful escapism. It can take you places you've never been. It should be a sensual experience. Obviously, it's a taste experience and an ambiance. A great restaurant experience is a lightening of your spirit. For a little while you are no longer in your world. You're in a world of foreign culture, and you surrender to joy.

Media Daily News: What else have you been up to?

Guccione: Even though it is a small little magazine, given to you when you leave a restaurant, it's actually a lot of work. I like to get it right. I spend as much time editing articles about wine or restaurants, as I did about science. I'm working on a couple of Web sites. A few things that will be completely new launches. I'm interested in a couple of start-up print titles, although one of them is about food. And that would be a national, mainstream high-quality food, wine and travel magazine. It's in the very early stages, although I've thought about it quite a lot.

Media Daily News: When you guest-edited Media magazine, you were a little circumspect about the prospects for digital media and their impact on magazine publishing.

Guccione: I want to balance that perception. The fear that traditional media is so shrouded in about digital media is misplaced. It is absolutely ridiculous. To me, it's like a farmer being afraid of his shovel. It's a tool. The Internet is an amazingly powerful piece of equipment for creative people to use. As long as traditional publishers are afraid of it, their lunch is going to be continuously eaten by younger, more creative people. I'm not younger, but I'm creative. Believe me, I can create a very powerful print company -- and augment and expand it digitally. But you have to do more than just replicate your print pages.

The opportunity also exists for people who do purely Internet media, without the need to do a print component. Digital doesn't need print. Print needs digital in the same way that once color was available, publishers had to use it.

Media Daily News:Recently, your former magazine Discover changed hands again. How did you feel about that?

Guccione: I did have interest in it, and I was one of the bidders. I thought it was a great opportunity to buy it back, given the market, and the impact the economy had. My belief is that print is far from redundant, but actually may be entering a new golden age, where people will figure out how to make a great print magazine on the one hand, and a great digital media complex on the other.

I was interested in acquiring Discover, but we didn't win. And I can't question the valuation the eventual winner gave it, because they no doubt had their vision just as I had mine. It's a great brand, and the magazine itself merely needs to be a bit more exciting to get it going again.

Media Daily News:  Being the son of the founder of a men's entertainment publishing empire, what do you make of Hugh Hefner's interest in reacquiring Playboy?

Guccione: I'm all for it: the idea of the original visionary grabbing the magazine by the horns again. I like and respect Hugh Hefner. I met him once and was very happy to interview him for Gear. He's sharper than a lot of people realize, if all they're basing their thoughts on is that stupid TV show. He's thoughtful, and I think the magazine needs to have one person imprint his vision and passion on it. I also think crucially that being a public company hurts that magazine.

A magazine with a distinct view struggles under the yoke of quarterly earnings and multiple shareholders. The magazine needs to be modernized and radically changed in order to get people's attention. But its tradition is strong, and I think if Hefner were to take hold of it again, he would do well. Conceivably, even Penthouse could be one of the biggest titles on the newsstand again if it were being put out by real publishers.

Media Daily News: So you don't think the moment has passed for men's adult entertainment magazines in the era of the Internet?

Guccione: I do think it has to be relevant. If all you're offering is titillating pictures, then you'll get squashed by the Internet. Men don't live any less complex lives that we ever have, so there is always a need for magazines that can decode our own existence. I don't think that the puerile format of what Maxim has become is the answer. I think it's what Penthouse and Playboy were in the '70s and '80s. And I don't think this neutered, sexless Esquire magazine works really. Men are a little more vibrant than that. GQ does it perfectly.

Media Daily News: Where will your journey take you next?

Guccione: I'm actually working on something completely different than anything I've ever done, and I can't talk about it, because I need the head start. But it would be surprising to people. Food is also part of my next venture. I really have a lot of passion for the world of food, wine and travel. The two Internet projects I'm doing are in wine and travel.

Media Daily News: OK, give us some particulars about Viaggio. Why should people on Madison Avenue care about it?

Guccione: Everybody realizes that the interest in the culture of food has exploded exponentially. It's singularly attractive to a clearly defined demographic. And that demographic is well-heeled, erudite, open-minded and sophisticated. They are principally 30- to 60-years-old, and they definitely have money to spend. And they spend it consistently on this passion.

Media Daily News: What is the business model?

Guccione: It's a custom content play. The only revenues are advertising, but it's more important that it retain its quality and image, than it becomes a big book full of ads. We're not looking to make it the Yellow Pages. We want to restrict the number of ad pages per issue: Somewhere between 10 and 14. It's editorially heavy by design. This project, holistically, is meant to convey the spirit of these restaurants. We're not trying to do Everyday with Rachel Ray with Mario's restaurants.