Graphical narratives: the Italian tradition before and after Töpffer

The official birth of Italian comics dates to 27 December 1908, when the first issue of the weekly «Corriere dei Piccoli» hit the stands. However, this was not the first appearance of fumetti in the country. In fact, graphic narratives appeared in Italian prints as early as the 16th century and continued to be published in the following decades. The talk offers an overview of the presence of sequential art in Italy, focusing on the years before and after Rodolphe Töpffer’s seminal work, up to the fateful date of 1908.

Fabio Gadducci is interested in comics and popular literature. He published Notes on the early decades of Italian comic art and founded «SIGNs. Studies in Graphic Narratives». He edited with Mirko Tavosanis the Italian edition of Will Eisner’s books on sequential art, with Matteo Stefanelli anthologies on «Corriere dei Piccoli» and Antonio Rubino, and series for Rizzoli, Mondadori, and Cosmo. The new edition of Eccetto Topolino, with Leonardo Gori and Sergio Lama, on American comics in 1930s Italy, has just come out.

This lecture is organized by the Toronto Italian Comics Studies (TICS) Study Group.

To attend this event, please register at this link.