2025: a year of new narratives to enrich and celebrate the history of Electa, an art book publisher, exhibition organiser and creator of cultural projects. A year of initiatives that interrogate knowledge beyond the boundaries of the visual arts, reflecting a more contemporary vision and suggesting new ways of reading and ‘looking’.

Projects, encounters, readings, stories: from archaeology to contemporary art, design to architecture and photography to literary criticism, which aspire to question the ‘political’ role of bearing witness to art, exploring every possible intersection, contamination and contradiction between image and word.

‘Pesci d’oro: in bookshops in May, preview at Turin International Book Fair

To commemorate its birthday, a celebratory edition of the iconic series of illustrated short essays, ‘Pesci rossi‘, will be in bookshops. These books recall the approach and writing technique of the eponymous collection (1920) by critic Emilio Cecchi.

Three new titles that fit in and stand out within the series for the gold colour of the cover, an echo of the most illustrious tradition of art books and for the dialogue they establish between legacy and future. Their intention is retracing the roots of the publishing house and suggesting directions for its development.

The first two books will be released on 27th May and available for preview at the Turin International Book Fair

• Michele Dantini, Bernard Berenson e l’arte contemporanea Storia, critica, editoria (Bernard Berenson and Contemporary Art History, Criticism, Publishing) investigates the American historian’s militant interests in contemporary art, which are less well known, forgotten or deliberately removed from criticism after his death. What emerges is a new and convincing ‘portrait’ that reinstates Berenson in his rightful place within Italian and European culture of the first half of the 20th century.
• Antonella Anedda, La vita dei dettagli (The life of details) is now available in a new edition enriched with a valuable appendix by the author and an afterword by Andrea Cortellessa. A title that questions the powerful fascination of details in works of art. A silent collector of details, a patient worshipper of paintings, Anedda explores the meaning of art and the enigma of its fruition.

To be released in September

• Carlo Vinti, Stefano Faoro, Electa publisher 2025. Dal 1945 ottanta anni di cultura visiva (Since 1945, eighty years of visual culture) has been dedicated to publishing and exhibition projects which, according to the authors who selected them, would over the years influence the development of editorial graphics in Italy. A richly illustrated excursus from the post-war printing tradition, through modern visual culture, graphic design and photography to the research of the new millennium and Electa’s identity today.

In 2025, Electa publishes also the catalogue of the 24th International Triennale Milano Exhibition, for which it manages and curates the bookshop and publishes the catalogue (in 3 volumes) of the Italian Pavillion at the 19th edition of the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, whose bookshops it also continues to curate.

A bridge between image and word, new paths (editorial and design)

As Rosanna Cappelli, managing director of the publishing house since 2020, recounts, ‘Electa, on the threshold of eighty years, felt the need for a publishing ‘gap’ and to get closer to the contemporary audience.

Inspired by the great literature of the 20th century, the crossing of genres, the hybridisation of knowledge and expertise, several of today’s projects (from the new series A-Z, Oilà and Scritti to palimpsests such as Esistere come donna) are based on a method that investigates the possible intersections, contaminations and contradictions between image and word.”

The creativity of the poster and logo for Electa’s birthday is by Studio Sonnoli, which has been responsible for the publisher’s visual identity for several years. It is their graphic design work on the most recent and cross-genre series such as the eccentric monographs A-Z, the feminist biographies Oilà and the newly launched art criticism series Scritti. For the latter series, the Marco Vallora volume will be in bookshops on 27 May, but available as a preview at the Turin International Book Fair. Scritti. Come se la parola dipingesse [Writings. As if the word painted], edited by Giorgio Agamben, Marcello Barison, Monica Ferrando, and with an unpublished recollection by Nicola Lagioia.

THE STORY:
A legacy that looks to the future

The name ‘Electa’ was registered in 1927, but the publishing house under this name began its publications in 1945, in Florence, in the fervour, including editorial fervour, that marked Liberation throughout Italy, with the reconstruction and re-foundation of its principles.

The art historian Bernard Berenson (1865-1959) inspired the editorial lines, giving shape and consistency to a catalogue from the very beginning, along with the influence of the environment of Villa I Tatti where he lived for most of his life.

In 1952, Electa moved to Milan, where it became a leading publisher in the study and dissemination of art, as well as its protection through knowledge, photographic documentation and criticism. Over the decades, it has built an unrivalled tradition on the Italian and European scene for rigour and continuity of research aimed at documenting cultural heritage, in all its forms.

From archaeology to contemporary art, from design to architecture, from photography to literary criticism/authorship, Electa has published magazines, essays, scientific volumes, monographs, guides and tools for visiting Italy’s art sites.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, it has been collaborating operationally with public museums, institutions and private foundations in organising exhibitions that are documented in its own catalogues.

More recently, it has started to offer itself to the same realities as a partner for the design of festivals and cultural programmes for the public, in particular through Fondamenta, the Foundation for Arts and Culture, established in 2024 from Electa’s experience and history, to design cultural participation activities and experiment with new forms of communication.

Electa editore manages and ‘curates’ bookshops at:
Mantua, Ducal Palace,
Milan Triennale
Naples, National Archaeological Museum of Naples
Rome, Colosseum Archaeological Park
Venice, Venice Biennale