The Bodoni collection preserved at the Palatine Library boasts numerous editions printed by the great typographer from Saluzzo on different types of paper , on parchment and on silk. Taking inspiration from this variety, the exhibition enhances the possessions of the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta by displaying a selection of printed volumes, from the first incunabula of the mid-1400s to volumes of the mid-1800s, made on various types of supports: paper, parchment, silk, wood.

The exhibition will be divided into four sections, like the print media taken into consideration:

  1. Parchment: from incunabula to nineteenth-century editions in which the typography “imitates” the manuscript even in the medium.
  2. Silk, used by Giambattista Bodoni for some very rare examples.
  3. Colored paper, hand-made and colored in the paste.
  4. Wood, in the experiments of Count Stefano Sanvitale in his Album de’ ragioni sù foglie lignei (1830).

In addition to the Bodoni collection, the avid bibliophilic research will also be witnessed, in particular by Bartolomeo Gamba (1766-1841) and other bibliophiles, aimed at collecting examples of issues on paper of various colours, produced by printers in very few copies or in single copies especially for special occasions such as wedding gifts.

The exhibition is organized with the contribution of the Cariparma Foundation, the Monte Parma Foundation and the Ministry of Culture.