Author – and former ICI London Director – Mario Fortunato reads selected passages from his latest book Atlante delle citta’ incognite (Bompiani).
Claudia Peill will present a video showcasing the book’s illustrations.
A sixty-something man who hates his name, and has begrudgingly accepted to take part to a reunion with old mates, finds himself capable of a rare gesture of human solidarity; the feeling of euphoria of a couple about to adopt a child is shattered by a flash in the night in Cape Town; a young and handsome waiter in Saigon is at the same time fascinated and disgusted by a relationship with a Western woman.
Twenty-one short stories, dedicated to cities from Agra to Venice via Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Odessa: the order is only apparently alphabetical, rather it secretly arranges a new map of our way of life.
The journey through the cities is also visual, thanks to Claudia Peill’s beautiful illustrations.
Book HERE
Mario Fortunato was born in Cirò, Calabria, Italy. For three decades he worked as a literary critic for the Italian current affairs magazine L’Espresso and continues to work as a columnist for the German daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung. He has been a member of the Italian Cinema Commission of the Ministry of Culture and the International Advisory Board of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. He is a founder of the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, and former Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in London and of the Fondazione Antonio Ratti. He has published several books including the collection of poems La casa del corpo (1987), Novels (Luoghi naturali) (1988); Il primo cielo (1989); Sangue (1992); L’arte di perdere peso (1997); L’amore rimane (2001); I giorni innocenti della guerra, (2007), and many more. Sud (2020) was his first novel to be published English, South (2020), non-fiction, Immigrato (1990); Passaggi paesaggi (1993). He has also translated Italian works by Evelyn Waugh, Virginia Woolf, and Henry James
Claudia Peill was born in Genova. She graduated at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome and from the 9os started exhibiting her work, which originally combines painting and photography. She has exhibited in private galleries, museums and public institutions around the world, including Museo Pecci, Prato 2000; Künstlerhaus Vienna 2001; ICI London 2003; Galleria Martano, Torino 2004; Künsthalle, Düsseldorf 2005; Galleria Anna D’Ascanio, Roma, 2006; Galerie Rossella Junk, Berlino, 2007; Galleria Mara Coccia, Roma 2012; Museo Andersen, Roma 2014; La Galleria Nazionale, Roma 2015; Museo Goethe, Roma 2016; Galleria Anna Marra, Roma 2017; Gallen-Kallela Museum, Helsinki 2018-19; Great Beauty Contemporary Art Museum, Pechino 2019; Astratte, donne e astrazione in Italia, 1930-2000, Villa Olmo Como, 2021. She has created several public permanent display and her works are part of many public and private collections. She teaches photography at the Accademia di Belle Arti in L’Aquila. www.Claudiapeill.com