In the historical center of Catania in 1894 the major of the Bersaglieri and professor of physical education, Giuseppe Prampolini, founded the Tirelli Bookshop-Bookbinding (hat was the surname of his first wife). The name was subsequently replaced with the surname of the inventor, Prampolini, to whom was succeeded by his son Romeo who soon became the spokesman of the intellectual life of Catania, thanks to the literary flowering of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, hosting within the important historic building names such as Verga or Capuana, to name a few.

Unfortunately due to the Second World War several publishing houses closed their doors, but Prampolini managed to cushion the blow by continuing his activity in step with contemporary society. After the death of Romeo Prampolini in 1974, the library was closed for about twenty years, which was succeeded by his pupil and publisher Angelo Santo Boemi, until 2005, but at this time various managements and vicissitudes followed.

Finally the historic Bookshop had reopened its doors on Sunday, September 15, 2019, with the same enthusiasm of the past thanks to the sisters Angelica and Maria Carmela Sciacca, already owners of the Libreria Vicolo Stretto, whose purpose will be to give back to the city a piece of history and a large cultural living room.

On 17 November the second stage of the ACINQUE project was inaugurated at the Library – an archive of images and words for Sicily (started a year ago at the Oratory of San Mercurio, PA), a project conceived in 2018 by Giuseppe Mendolia Calella, curator and co-founder of the visual arts platform Balloon Project.

This is a collection of artist books in A5 format (210 x 148 mm), made using different techniques, with a common theme: the tangible and intangible heritage of Sicily. For the occasion, at Legatoria Prampolini, a folio was presented in collaboration with the Moondi publishing house containing critical texts by Cornelia Lauf, Aurelia Nicolosi and Giuseppe Mendolia Calella, with translations by Gesualdo Busacca.

But what is an artist book? Established mainly in the 20th century, we can understand it as an artistic work realized as a real book, often published as a limited edition numbered edition, although it is sometimes produced as a single object and is called unique: a book that is not limited to its simple and classic idea but which has seen a wide range of shapes swirl, such as rolls, leaflets, concertinas, bound or free sheets contained in boxes.

The authors on display at the Legatoria Prampolini for ACINQUE – An archive of images and words for Sicily: Roberta Abeni, Fabrizio Ajello, Vanessa Alessi, Daniela Ardiri, Calogero Enzo Barba, Ludovica Antonella Barba, Vincenzo Barba, Marcella Barone, Davide Basile, Gaetano Blaiotta, Giovanna Brogna Sonnino, Luca Hugo Brucculeri, Gesualdo Busacca, Laura Cantale, Gianluca Capozzi, Carmen Cardillo, Federico Caruso, Claudia Castello, Mario Chiavetta, Maria Grazia Cipolla e Giacomo Simonetta, Alessandro Costanzo, Paolo Cremona, Eleonora Cumer, Mariella Cusumano, Gabriele D’Angelo, M. Elena Danelli, Melania De Luca e Gianluca Monaco, Pasquale De Sensi, Stefania Di Filippo, Francesco Di Giovanni, Demetrio Di Grado, Giuseppe Anthony Di Martino, Giorgio Distefano, Zoltan Fazekas, Alessandro Federico, Manuel Fois, Rosa Franceschino, Rosolino Ganci, Loly Ghirardi, Lillo Giuliana, Alessio Guano, Olga Gurgone e Valentina Scalzo, Vincenzo Ingrascì, Angelo Licciardello e Sebastiano Sicurezza, Sara Lovari, Mario Margani e Andrea Nicolò, Laura Maugeri, Susy Manzo, Giuseppe Mendolia Calella, Gaetana Milazzo, Pietro Milici, Rosa Lucia Motta, Claudio Parentela, Francesco Pietrella, Ettore Pinelli, Maurizio Pometti, Salvo Rivolo, Francesco Rinzivillo, Flavia Rossi, Gabriella Sapienza, Stefania Scamardi, Caterina Scandurra, Giuseppe Scandurra e Lucilla Scalia, Federico Severino, Demetrio Scopelliti, Samantha Torrisi, Ilenia Vecchio, Marilena Vita, Vincenzo Zancana.

Info:

Legatoria Prampolini
Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 333 Catania
Free Entry
Partner: Balloon Project | Attraverso Collettivo Curatoriale | Moondi Edizioni | KōArt Unconventional Place
Wine partner: La Valigia di Bacco