Cartaceo returns to BookCity:
5 things you need to know
Cartaceo#07 will take place on Friday, 14 November at 11:00 a.m. at Piccolo Teatro Grassi, Via Rovello, Milan.
On stage will be Andrea Pennacchi, the well-known Pojana from Propaganda Live – the popular Italian TV show known for its satirical take on current affairs – performing an original text. At the same time, six Italian illustrators will create a collective live painting inspired by his words.
Illustration by Antonio Pronostico for Cartaceo#07
Freely inspired by Meriggiare pallido e assorto (To Laze at Noon, Pale And Thoughtful) by Eugenio Montale, Pennacchi’s original composition can be described as “a text of meriggiamenti”. Thus, Cartaceo becomes the opportunity to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Montale’s collection Ossi di Seppia (Cuttlefish Bones, 1925).
And while we wait for this event, part of BookCity Milano 2025, here are five things to know about Cartaceo.
1. What is Cartaceo?
Cartaceo is a project promoted by Burgo Group that celebrates paper as a meeting place between word and image. Now in its seventh edition, Cartaceo has, year after year, brought together writers and illustrators around a theme, an idea, an inspiration. From these encounters, unique works have been created and printed in limited editions.
The project highlights the importance of paper as both a creative and symbolic medium, capable of inspiring and conveying a contemporary artistic experience.
Through Cartaceo, Burgo Group conferma il suo impegno nella promozione della cultura e dell’arte, valorizzando la carta come medium espressivo irrinunciabile. Burgo Group reaffirms its commitment to promoting culture and the arts, highlighting paper as an essential means of expression.
2. What inspired Come lumache sul muretto, Andrea Pennacchi’s text?
Andrea Pennacchi’s text Come lumache sul muretto (Like snails on the wall) takes its cue, with creative freedom, from Meriggiare pallido e assorto by Eugenio Montale, one of the peaks of Italian poetry.
Combining irony and lyricism, Pennacchi’s words explore the traits of a life somehow confined within boundaries, rediscovering in paper a space for escape – for the senses, too.
Andrea Pennacchi is a writer and actor for theatre, television, and cinema.
He made his debut as a playwright in 2014 with Villain People, selected for the Trame d’Autore festival at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro Grassi and winner of the Fersen Prize for directing in 2014. His other plays include Eroi, Mio padre: appunti sulla guerra civile, and Pojana e i suoi fratelli.
He has performed with the Teatro Stabile del Veneto and appeared in several acclaimed Italian films and TV series. Since 2019, he has been a regular guest on Propaganda Live on La7 with his character Pojana.
3. Who are the illustrators taking part in the live painting?
Thomas Cian, Grazia La Padula, La Tram, Martoz, Antonio Pronostico, and Elisa Talentino – six of Italy’s most respected illustrators – will take part in Cartaceo#07.
Thomas Cian, born in Milan and a Brera Academy of Fine Arts graduate, has made drawing the core of his career. Alongside personal projects, he collaborates with communication agencies and creative studios in Italy and abroad, producing illustrations for publishing, advertising, and multimedia projects.
Grazia La Padula, based in Rome, works as a comic artist and illustrator in both France and Italy. She has worked with publishers such as Tunué, BeccoGiallo, Feltrinelli, and Oblomov, and contributed illustrations to many magazines, including Linus and Jacobin Italia.
La Tram (pen name of Margherita Tramutoli) is an illustrator and comic artist known for works with strong civic engagement. She has collaborated with Corriere della Sera and Il Manifesto, and published books with Feltrinelli Comics and DeAgostini.
Martoz is a comic artist, illustrator, and street artist. Coconino Press, Feltrinelli, Canicola, and others have published his comics. He has also collaborated with Internazionale, Linus, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Stampa, and Il Foglio. In 2019, he received the Gran Guinigi Award at Lucca Comics as Best Illustrator.
Antonio Pronostico lives and works in Rome. After studying visual communication in Florence, he developed a distinctive style marked by the use of pencil and wax crayon, giving his works a vivid, metaphysical quality. He has collaborated with major Italian publishers and magazines, creating graphic novels and illustrations that combine emotion and visual experimentation.
Elisa Talentino, born in Turin, is an illustrator, painter, and printmaker. Her work, characterised by enigmatic figures and experimental screen-printing techniques, has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
4. Who were the authors and illustrators of previous Cartaceo editions?
Previous editions of Cartaceo have featured the following collaborations:
- Emiliano Ponzi with Gabriella Greison
- Manuele Fior with Alessandro Bergonzoni
- Sarah Mazzetti with Massimo Recalcati
- Riccardo Falcinelli with Andrea Serio
- Valerio Lundini with Carlo Stanga
- Federico Buffa with Igort
5. The special gift for the audience is a limited-edition leporello. But… what exactly is a leporello?
A leporello is a concertina-folded book, with pages combined to be leafed through like a traditional book, or unfolded to reveal the entire sequence of images or text.
The leporello pages can be leafed through or unfolded. In the photo: the leporellos for Cartaceo#03 (Sarah Mazzetti with Massimo Recalcati) and Cartaceo#04 (Riccardo Falcinelli with Andrea Serio).
Within the Cartaceo project, the leporello is conceived as a special gift for the audience: original works created in collaboration with Italian and international artists and printed in limited editions.
These publications combine creativity and graphic experimentation, celebrating paper as an artistic medium and telling stories in an original, engaging way.
Beyond being collectors’ pieces, they also offer a unique tactile and visual experience, highlighting the quality of the paper and the care taken in printing – transforming each leporello into a journey through art, storytelling, and design.
