A Genoese Returns

It was after the Unification of Italy that the Riccis of Genoa moved to Parma, leaving behind them the view of the sea and the Palazzo Ducale where, for centuries, they had been welcomed as if into their second home. Now that same palazzo opens its doors to pay homage to the last scion of the family: Franco Maria Ricci, publisher, graphic designer, fine collector, and the founder of this magazine. I know that the title of the exhibition, Opus in Black, may lend itself to some confusion: Ricci loved black, not for its connotations, whether liturgical or political, much less for any esoteric allusions (the Nigredo of alchemy); to him, black – the sum of all hues or their synthesis – was the color of life. It was also the shade best suited to elegance, and in the name of both life and elegance Franco returns to Genoa this spring to place a fitting capstone on that city’s year as Italy’s Capital of Books.

Laura Casalis