Presentation of the volume "C-ARTE. I segni della carta Fabriano nelle opere di Dante, Raffaello e Canova"
On Thursday, September 11, in the Sala Forme of the historic Cartiere Miliani complex in Fabriano, the Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano presented the editorial project “C-ARTE. I segni della carta Fabriano nelle opere di Dante, Raffaello e Canova" (The watermarks of Fabriano paper in the works of Dante, Raphael, and Canova), curated by Livia Faggioni.
The presentation was entrusted to three highly esteemed scholars: Professor Marco Cursi, paleographer and lecturer at the University of Naples “Federico II”; Professor Claudia La Malfa, art historian and lecturer at the American University of Rome; and Professor Paolo Mariuz, member of the Scientific Committee of the Canova Foundation and secretary of the National Edition of the Works of Antonio Canova. The event was moderated by Stefano Salis, writer and journalist for Il Sole 24 Ore, a deep connoisseur of the Italian publishing and cultural world, who emphasized that “this book is a precious, useful, and beautifully crafted object—such thoughtfully made works are now extremely rare in Italy.”
Long before the content it holds, paper carries an invisible and profound history. Every mark, every watermark is a clue that connects eras and lives—a subtle thread linking authors and artists to the artisans of Fabriano, who have shaped the raw material of cultural expression for centuries. It is from this insight that “C-ARTE” was born: a project that narrates the identity of paper through the works of three absolute masters—Dante Alighieri, Raphael Sanzio, and Antonio Canova. The volume, the result of a research journey conducted between 2020 and 2022 to mark the anniversaries dedicated to these three figures, aims to reconstruct a kind of “genetic memory” of Fabriano paper by analyzing documents and comparing the watermarks found in the papers used by these artists with those preserved in the Historical Archive of the Cartiere Miliani Fabriano and the Corpus Chartarum Fabriano.
The editorial design of the project was meticulously curated by graphic designer Giulia Garbin, who conceived an elegant and refined box set that reflects the quality and depth of its content. The four small volumes it contains are made with Fedrigoni paper and bound using singer stitching—a choice that evokes craftsmanship and artisanal tradition.
