stories

The fourth volume of IL LIBRO, like those before it, is not limited by time. Here, we take a fresh look at the Italian Arcadian vision from early Roman wall painting, through the utopian notions behind post war discos, to the present day, with a discussion between Giuseppe Penone and Sria Chatterjee about the risk of losing the very landscape that formed the vision this magazine celebrates.

In our second volume, our contributors trace the “Italian line” from the couture of Emilio Schuberth to the drapery of da Vinci and Manzoni; we capture the leisurely course of Gio Ponti’s maritime adventures and Enzo Ferrari’s express formula for Grand Prix elegance; we discover an Italian master in imperial Beijing and an architect’s structures on the dining table.

Mind Over Matter The Wit of Modern Italian Art

text by Barry Schwabsky

Recasting Venice The Late Renaissance Workshop of Nicolò Roccatagliata

text by Carolyn H. Miner

Our inaugural issue delivers revelations and explorations. We go behind closed doors in Venice, enjoy cornetti and espresso in East Africa, and delve into Italy’s Baroque shadows with Caravaggio. We have also published Francis Steegmuller’s bittersweet 1986 essay The Incident in Naples. IL LIBRO seeks to draw lines between these seemingly unconnected points. Particularly pertinent to the essence of IL LIBRO is Alain Elkann’s illuminating interview with Franco Maria Ricci, publisher of the eponymous magazine FMR. Ink on paper ties a writer to a reader via the pleasure of touch, the tangible pleasure of communication through an exquisite object. Naturally, we live in the era of the screen, but the two are not mutually exclusive. The book perseveres just as the search for beauty persists in present-day Italy.