After 36 years, Italy shines again as guest of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest global publishing event, attracting over 300,000 visitors. The event will be held from 16 to 20 October 2024. To celebrate this occasion, the Stefano Boeri Interiors studio was commissioned by the Extraordinary Commissioner Mauro Mazza to design the layout of the pavilion dedicated to cultural heritage and Italian publishing.
The project, inspired by the theme “Roots in the future“, takes inspiration from the Italian square as a central element of urban planning, offering visitors a unique experience among tables, porticoes and entrance halls. The pavilion, designed in collaboration with the art historian Giovanni Agosti, will be built around a central square , surrounded by porticoes that define its perimeter, columns decorated with historical-architectural details and steps that serve as informal seats. This configuration recalls the squares of historic Italian centers, meeting spaces and informal relationships.
The square of Stefano Boeri Interiors it will be the beating heart of the Fair’s program, hosting a rich calendar of appointments, lectures and meetings. It will be the ideal place to meet and converse after having explored the editorial and literary news present at the fair.
With this display, Italy not only celebrates its return as a protagonist at the Frankfurt Book Fair, but also offers a tribute to its cultural and urban traditionrepresented by the square as a space for meeting and exchange.
“We interpreted the theme “Roots in the future” by choosing to reconstruct a Italian square, with its columns, porticoes and steps, on which to sit, attend an event, read a book or rest. In fact, nothing has more roots in our history and, at the same time, a generous openness to the world and the unpredictability of daily life in the Italian square, the soul of our cities and our country,” states architect Stefano Boeri, Founder of Stefano Boeri Interiors. “An installation that offers an experience punctuated by a schedule of references, memories, passions and forms. Architectural elements that will form the backdrop to the meeting of the different cultural and artistic trajectories present representing Italy, Guest of Honour” adds architect Giorgio Donà, Partner and Director of Stefano Boeri Interiors.
The perimeter rooms of the Italian pavilion, all overlooking the central square, will be distinguished by specific functions, unique color shades and layout features designed to facilitate visitor orientation. Each environment will host exhibitions or activities designed to bring the international public closer to the most relevant contemporary expressions of Italian culture. The selection of contents, curated by the Extraordinary Commissioner Mauro Mazza and his team, will offer a rich variety of cultural presences.
Among the most significant spaces, two adjacent rooms will present “Under an ancient sky”, an exhibition curated by MiC which will display masterpieces of ancient art from Italian national museums. Another room will be dedicated to “The Prince” by Niccolò Machiavelliwhile a subsequent room will celebrate Aldo Manuzio, one of the greatest publishers of all time and precursor of the paperback book.
A distinctive element will be the “Library of 600 books“, a space adorned with rich vegetation that will collect 600 volumes translated from German into Italian. As per tradition, these books will be donated to the Guest Country of Honor at the end of the event.
GO!25 will be an environment dedicated to celebrating Nova Gorica and Gorizia as the European Capital of Culture 2025, while the Caffè Letterario will act as a small auditorium for conferences and meetings.
Finally, “Reading in the dark” will be a room with an audio installation in the dark, designed to raise visitors’ awareness of reading for the blind and accessibility, as well as discovering the experience of audiobooks.
