fumetto!

T HE world-wide chronicling of the history of comic art continues with a 520 page “paper-brick” of a book called fumetto! 150 anni di storie italiane [150 years of Italian stories], published by Rizzoli. The book has been compiled and edited by Gianni Bono and Matteo Stefanelli.  

Among the contributors are Alfredo Castelli, Fabio Gadducci, Luca Boschi, Alberto Becattini and a group of 30 scholars and critics. Their fumetto! is, strangely enough, the first book on the early history of Italian comics ever published, deepening our understanding of the comic strip form in nineteenth century Italy. The book is available HERE.

Co-editor Matteo Stefanelli said last Tuesday:

“Our fumetto! book has 
three different streams of content:

…a cultural history of Italian comics in essays…

…profiles of 114 artists, each with a biographical side, and a focus on their style…

…an “approfondimenti” appendix section, with profiles of influential non-artists who shaped Italian comics identity, plus short essays on the intersection between comics and other cultural fields, plus case histories of the Italian export success of comics…”