Arrivederci Frankfurt!
“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who made this project possible. It was a joint effort involving institutions, companies, professionals and enthusiasts. Together we have shown that Italian culture is a priceless asset, capable of uniting people and generating new opportunities”, said Mauro Mazza, extraordinary Commissioner for the coordination of the activities related to Italy's participation as Guest of Honour.
For five days Piazza Italia, the Italian Pavilion designed by Studio Boeri Interiors, was the meeting place for lovers of books and culture. Surrounded by white columns and sitting under a blue starry sky, visitors could sip a coffee while listening to authors, and representatives of Italy's and Germany's cultural and intellectual scenes.
Around 120 encounters were organised in the “Agora” and in the “Caffè letterario” - the two stages of the Piazza - as well as in the Italian Collective Stand and in the city of Frankfurt, where further exhibitions and concerts took place.
Susanna Tamaro, Carlo Rovelli and Stefano Zecchi were the first ones to present Italy’s programme, addressing the participants at the opening ceremony and the next day the visitors of the Italian Pavilion. The following days continued with sessions including renowned names such as Alessandro Barbero, Alessandro Baricco, Claudio Magris, Francesca Melandri, Paolo Cognetti, Patrizia Rinaldi, Rita Charbonnier, Stefania Auli… to name just a few of the nearly 90 authors who animated the literary programme.
A rich professional and literary programme
Editors and translators, representatives of ministries and publishers' associations, discussed the state of publishing and translations - and also the challenges of Artificial Intelligence - in sessions co-organised by the Italian Publishers Association AIE as part of the professional programme.
Specific formats such as the booming “Romance” with Felicia Kingsley and Erin Doom, the popular detective literature with Maurizio de Giovanni and Antonio Manzini and an homage to Andrea Camilleri, and children’s literature, amongst others with Elisabetta Dami – the creator of mouse journalist Geronimo Stilton – were featured.
Next to this, a strong focus was also given on other means of creating stories: through audiobooks, comics and illustrations, film adaptations and “Reading in the dark” experiences, where famous writers and blind or visually impaired readers alternately read the same book, revealing the different ways of using it.
Famous illustrator Lorenzo Mattotti – who created the illustration that accompanied Italy’s participation as Guest of Honour – explored the diverse potentials of language, expression and storytelling together with his colleague Alessandro Sanna. In another session, Milo Manara – who collaborated with Federico Fellini, Hugo Pratt and Umberto Eco and who recently illustrated “The Name of the Rose” – explored life (re) drawn through the lens of comics.
From live drawings to historical exhibitions
Saviola Group, an industrial company leader in circular economy, worked closely with Studio Boeri Interiors to set up the Italian Pavilion, by supplying its design panels to create a space dedicated to our country’s beauty and innovation. A live drawing by artist Marcello Carrà, created as part of a triptych for the Saviola Group, made the motto “Roots in the future” come to life on three panels showing trees and roots, humans and houses, drawn with a ballpoint pen on recycled wood.
Young illustrators were given a floor in the exhibition “Matite giovani” (young pencils), which directly stroke the eye when entering the Italian Pavilion. Right next to them, “Multi” – the Multimedia Museum of Italian Language – offered a full-immersion virtual experience in Italian and English where visitors could discover the history and culture of the language through art, music, literature, cinema, fashion and cuisine.
At the centre of the Piazza, Guanto, an artwork designed by Alessandro Mendini for the Bisazza Foundation, was on display. The work was chosen together with Triennale Milano, an institution that has promoted contemporary culture through the languages of design, architecture and the arts for over one hundred years as a sign of unity and welcome.
Other exhibitions covering different aspects of Italian culture and literature could be explored when entering the different spaces from the arcades of the Piazza. “Books in Italy” featured a library of more than 600 Italian books – selected by publishers from all over the world thanks to the Frankfurter Buchmesse – as well as first editions of Italian classics to testify the birth of the Italian language curated by the General Directorate for Libraries and Copyright of the Ministry of Education.
A multimedia space was dedicated to Treccani, the famous Italian encyclopaedia who celebrates its 100th birthday in 2025. Inspired by the Renaissance study room, the interactive installation combined Italian art, design and craftsmanship.
Another space showed the evolution from Manuzio – the revolutionary inventor of the pocket book as we know it today – to ebooks, while next to this another space was dedicated to “The Prince”, Machiavelli’s famous classic.
Curated by the Italian Literary Agency TILA with the support of the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), pictures of 60 Italian authors of the 20th century pillars of Italy’s literature were at display to capture through photography and, through their physiognomies, always interesting and sometimes unforgettable personalities. The roots of Italy’s culture and its evolution over the century were presented in an extraordinary exhibition bringing together selected original frescoes and artifacts from Pompeii from various Italian Museum as well as their interpretations over the centuries, to show that Italian culture constantly reinterprets its own roots. The reproduction of the famous painting by Tischbein, showing Goethe in the Roman Campagna, was also not to be missed – Goethe’s “Italian Journey” being one of the first oeuvres symbolising the Germans’ love and appreciation for the antiques.
A link between history and future, Pirelli, one of the world’s leading tyre makers, had a space dedicated to the story of the different components of the company’s soul: innovation, technology, entrepreneurial culture, and art. The space also hosted several of Pirelli’s publications, such as the editorial projects curated by the Fondazione Pirelli, where the company collaborated with great names of national and international literature.
Design company Kartell, who enriched the Pavilion by its emblematic furniture, also presented a special exhibition of products linked to the culture and roots of ‘Made in Italy’ that look to the future while respecting the environment.
Finally, one space was dedicated to the preview of the event GO! 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia Borderless European Capital of Culture, two cities divided over the centuries but united through culture and whose programme was announced during the Buchmesse.
Music, Italian dances and a “Grand finale” at the Festhalle
Activities outside the book fair premises celebrated yet other forms of Italian culture – starting with the opera and a celebration of Giacomo Puccini’s centenary at the Alte Oper theatre, where the Orchestra of the Arena di Verona Foundation performed some of Puccini’s greatest arias, followed by a night at the Oper Frankfurt with a modern interpretation of “Rigoletto”. The cheerfulness and passion of Italian dances was shown in a “Taranta d’amore”, performed by the Corpo di Ballo Popolare of the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome and the Orchestra Popolare Italiana, under the direction of Maestro Ambrogio Sparagna.
A special grand finale was given on the eve of Italy’s last day as Guest of Honour, with Il Volo performing live in concert some of the greatest melodies of music history.
Adding to this, a joyful “Volare” – in a special tribute by the Philippines as 2025 Guest of Honour during Sunday’s handover ceremony – marked the end of the Italian presence as Guest of Honour 2024 and the cooperation between the outgoing Guest of Honour and the incoming one.
Although it is difficult to fully explain the emotions experienced at this edition of the Frankfurt Buchmesse, we will carry them in our hearts, with satisfaction and a touch of nostalgia.
We would like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, the Italian Embassy in Berlin, the Italian Trade Agency and the Center of Books and Reading for having supported this project since its inception and throughout the realisation.
Thank you to the main sponsor Pirelli, and technical sponsors Kartell, Saviola Group, and Morfeo Gadget, and to all supporters – GO! 2025 Nova Gorica Gorizia Audible, ENIT, Fondazione FS Italiane, Posteitaliane, and VillaVignoni, without whom the realisation of the Italian Pavilion would not have been possible.
Our heartfelt gratitude goes to the architects of this stunning “Piazza Italia”, Stefano Boeri and Giorgio Donà from Stefano Boeri Interiors, who conceived the Pavilion based on an idea shared with art historian Giovanni Agosti.
A special thanks also to our media partner RAI and – last but not least – to the whole event management team and the two fundamental project partners, the Italian Publishers Association AIE and the Frankfurter Buchmesse.
Discover the activities of Italy Guest of Honour in pictures: