From March 25th to June 23rd, from Monday to Saturday, from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. Sunday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
The show A fior di pelle. Bolognese Bindings in Archiginnasio, curated by Federico Macchi, exhibits particularly valuable and interesting Bolognese bindings from the 15th to the 20th century. Among the hundreds of unpublished specimens present in the Archiginnasio Library, some volumes have been chosen that exemplify the evolution of artifacts over a period of six centuries, revealing the persistence of the Bolognese model and some of its specific characteristics.
The exhibition coincides with the conclusion of an important census carried out – in collaboration with some librarians of the Archiginnasio – by Federico Macchi, one of the most famous Italian historians of the history of binding and, in this case, also curator of the exhibition. A total of 1,650 ligatures from Italian and foreign production centers were surveyed, photographed and described: all the material – starting from the inauguration of the exhibition – will be available in the Legature storico online database, which will allow searches to be made by date, geographical area and words included in the descriptive comments.
Born to protect and preserve the sewn block of papers, membranacee first, then paper, the ligature makes the book unique and unrepeatable: fruit of the patient and laborious work of the knotter, introduces into the atmosphere of an era or in the life of a character; artistic product, symbol of social belonging. The Library launched the census in 2016, conducted by Federico Macchi among its more than nine hundred thousand volumes to identify all the specimens with valuable historical ligatures.
Federico Macchi (1959), bibliophile, specialized in the study of ligatures, began in 1994 the census of ligatures made in the X-XX centuries, of interest for the history of ligation found in the major Milanese libraries (Brera, Sormani, Catholic University, Trivulziana) , later extended first to the Lombard ones, then to the Emilian ones (Estense of Modena, Palatina of Parma, Panizzi of Reggio Emilia and Passerini Landi of Piacenza. For Bologna his has recorded the bindings of the Archiginnasio Library and has a census in progress at the University Library.
He is the author of a hundred publications including articles and printed and online catalogs and numerous speeches at conferences in Italy and abroad.
Admission is free.
