Monday 17 September will see the launch of “OFF”, a new series conceived and presented by Edoardo Sylos Labini and promoted by Mondadori Store, which will bring to its events area of the Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo in Milan some of the most famous and popular personalities in Italy.

Giusy Versace, Roberta Bruzzone, Vittorio Sgarbi, Raul Cremona, Vladimir Luxuria and Carlo Cracco are just some of the protagonists involved in 8 events on the programme that starts next week: one event per month until April 2019 will animate a late afternoon in Milan with fascinating revelations about the personal and professional lives of famous faces from the world of the arts, sport and entertainment.

They will be welcomed by Edoardo Sylos Labini who, accompanied by the voice and guitar of singer-songwriter Daniele Stefani, will give a new form to his OFF interviews: the eclectic Roman artist will adopt the role of presenter in a “salon” made less formal and attractive by unseen images of the guests and continuous interaction with the audience, who will be able to interact live with their favourite personalities.

“For an artist, an interview is often like an audition,” said Edoardo Sylos Labini. “If there is no feeling with the interviewer this can create tension. And if you don’t feel relaxed sometimes you can end up saying things you didn’t mean or intend to say. By switching roles, I try to make the interviewee feel at home with a friend, in an intimate setting. This is how the OFF interviews were launched in my web magazine ilgiornaleOFF.it, revealing some of the most secret aspects of the lives and careers of the interviewees and it’s a great joy that we can no bring the format to the Mondadori Stores”.

“The initiative picks up and develops the format of Manzoni Cultura, which last year brought us together with Sylos Labini,” declared Francesco Riganti, marketing director of Mondadori Retail, “and foresees a series of new and exciting encounters with personalities for a range of areas, from sport to the arts, the media world and cooking. The backdrop for the events will be the elegant location of our Piazza Duomo megastore, which has now been a point of reference for culture in Milan for more than 10 years: an irreplaceable hub and meeting place for the entire city that brings people together, where the guests of ‘OFF’ will be able to talk about themselves in a spontaneous and unusual way, sharing feelings, anecdotes and interesting stories about their private and public lives.

The series will start on Monday 17 September at 7 pm with Giusy Versace, the paralympian athlete, winner of silver and bronze medals at the European Championships in Grosseto in 2016, and who in recent years has demonstrated an extraordinary capacity as a TV presenter and theatre actor.

The OFF programme at the Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo will then continue on 17 October, again at 7 pm, with the philosopher and essayist Diego Fusaro, and on 7 November with the criminologist and psychologist Roberta Bruzzone. The last date for  2018, will be 3 December when the protagonist will be the art critic Vittorio Sgarbi. Then, on 11 January 2019, it will be the turn of journalist and TV presenter, Serena Bortone.

From news to magic, on 5 February the amazing Raul Cremona, will tell some incredible stories from the world of conjuring. On 8 March. meanwhile, Sylos Labini will be face-to-face with writer Nino Spirlì and Vladimir Luxuria, activist, dramatist and TV presenter, to talk about sexual identity and civil rights. The series will come to a close of 16 April 2019 with award-winning chef Carlo Cracco, supported by a female chef from the Elior Group who will reveal some secrets fro special occasions.

The Media Partner of the initiative is the web magazine IlGiornaleOff.it, the detailed online version of the Saturday supplement of Il Giornale, edited by Edoardo Sylos Labini. The official Sponsors of the series include: Artisti Annuario Internazionale di Arte Contemporanea, Elior, Felicia and Lineapelle.

The complete schedule of OFF series is available at the webstie: https://eventi.mondadoristore.it/it/

From tomorrow a new Mondadori Bookstore will be open in Rome, at the AURA shopping mall, the large shopping hub opened in the Valle Aurelia area, just a short distance from the Vatican City.
With more than 15,000 titles on sale and an offer of events ranging from meetings with leading protagonists from the world of books and music to children’s workshops, the new Mondadori bookshop will be a point of reference for readers and visitors to the centre and place to discover a world of culture and emotions.

This new opening takes the number of outlets in the Mondadori Store network in the Rome area to 23, a level of coverage that confirms the Mondadori Group chain’s position as the most extensive bookshop chain in Italy, able, through its more than 600 stores, to serve over 20 million customers every year.

The new Mondadori Bookstore, located in a position close to the main entrance to the Aura shopping mall, is spread over an area of 300 square metres, where customers can find the latest book releases in fiction, non-fiction, classics and  graphic novels, an area for children and teenagers with books and toys, a sector for music and films, the best stationery products, gift boxes, and a corner dedicated to the Kobo e-reader.
The store also offer the possibility of accessing a catalogue of more than 7 million books available online at Mondadoristore.it, thanks to Pick up point services, where customers can pick up in the store titles that they buy online; Order and collect, where they can order online and pick up in store; or Home delivery, where products ordered in the store can be delivered straight to the customer’s address.

Inside the bookshop there is also a Mondadori Café, with seating for 35 customers, open all day, from breakfast time until the evening cocktail hour, with healthy gourmet products, and special attention to the needs of children.

Among the first events planned at the store will be a number of appointments for children between the ages of 4 and 10: on 28 and 29 April and 5 and 6 May, from 10 am to 12.30 pm and from 3 pm until 7 pm the Mondadori Bookstore will host two workshops run by professional educators who, using physical and musical expression techniques, will facilitate integration, familiarity between the participants and group training in teamwork.

The Mondadori Bookstore project was designed by Studio Kallipigia Architetti. Mondadori Café was developed in collaboration with Cibiamogroup.

 Mondadori Store, Italy’s most extensive network of bookshops, presents a new tool to serve customers: MyStore, a digital assistant that can suggest content and provide customised advice thanks to the use of sophisticated analytics.

MyStore is in the form of a totem with an interactive multi-touch screen with which customers can interact rapidly and intuitively in order to receive highly personalised suggestions for purchases and gifts. MyStore uses GetInTouch software, an interactive cognitive content presenter developed by Mauden, one of the most engaged information technology companies involved in digital innovation. This solution exploits the augmented intelligence of the IBM Watson, a cognitive system able to elaborate an enormous quantity of data.

“With MyStore we are the first Italian retailer to introduce a service based on this kind of technology, a solution that will offer our customers a new way of exploring the Mondadori Store catalogue inside the stores,” declaredFrancesco Riganti, marketing director of Mondadori Retail. “The search function has been designed to be as personalised as possible and is based on the preferences of customers, also as reflected on social media, which makes possible new and more sophisticated profiling that can learn continuously learn from the history of interactions. This is why we have decided to partner with two companies like Mauden and IBM that, in recent years, have developed the most important cognitive solutions.”

The three functions on MyStore are MyBook, MyGift and MyFinder.

MyBook helps customers to find the right book thanks to a cognitive analysis based on the customers’ profile. By accessing from your Facebook account, the totem elaborates your preferences through a multichoice function based on books, music and films to identify the users’ tastes. The selection will then be combined with the Mondadori Store lists and data not protected by privacy on Facebook, such as pages followed, date of birth, friends lists, etc. In this way the system generates a “Chosen for you” list, with suggested titles from MyStore.
Users can also add books seen to a list of favourites, in the “Discover products” section, any time they access MyStore.

MyGift makes it possible to find the best book to give as a gift. Also in this case it is possible to profile the recipient by selecting titles and, consequently, also the type of books preferred which, together with the Mondadori Store lists, create a new “MyGift” list with the ideal books to select to give as a gift.

MyFinder enables customers to find products on sale in stores such as books, CDs and DVDs, with information about prices, pictures of the products and the area of the store where they can be found. This function enables customers to search for products by name and fro books a funtion will also be included to search using the ISBN.

The MyStore service, available for the first time in Italy, is active in the Mondadori Megastores in Piazza Duomo and via Marghera in Milan, and at the Mondadori Bookstore in Via Appia Nuova in Rome.

Mondadori Store has been chosen by Universal Music as the commercial partner of Jova Pop Shop, the temporary store of Jovanotti that opens at midnight on 30 November in Piazza Gae Aulenti in Milan on the occasion of the launch of a new album and publication of a new book by the artist. The name was selected in honour of the legendary POP SHOP opened by Keith Haring in New York in the 1980s.

For the Jova Pop Shop Mondadori Store has managed all aspects of the retail operation, from the recruitment of staff to sales, and from the management of the assortment to the displays.

It is a partnership that confirms the Mondadori Store, Italy’s biggest chain of bookshops, as a point of reference for culture and entertainment, having, over the years, been able to dedicated extensive space also to music, enhancing the presence of products in the chain of shops, alongside a rich offer of events.

Jova Pop Shop will remain open until 11 December, from 11  am until 9 pm. On sale in the shop will be the CD, vinyl and cassette versions of Oh, Vita!, the book SBAM! (Mondadori) and official merchandising. An area will be dedicated to limited edition special items, such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, socks, hats and backpacks, the proceeds from which will go to four charity associations.

Jova Pop Shop has been created principally to be a focal point where people can gather and where, every day, there will be live sets, meetings, surprise readings and exhibitions that will be announced just a few hours before on Jovanotti’s social media channels and covered live on his Facebook page and on Jova TV.

Sergio Bonelli Editore SpA and Mondadori Store are proud to announce the opening in Milan of the first Bonelli Point retail outlet

From 1 November the readers and collectors of the comics by the legendary publisher of Tex, Zagor, Dylan Dog, Martin Mystere and many others, are invited to visit the special area, set up inside the Mondadori Megastore in Via Marghera 28 in Milano (Red line Metro station De Angelis).

An opportunity to discover the new offer by Bonelli at the same time as they are presented at Lucca Comics&Games 2017, but also to search for back issues, exclusive editions, books, merchandising and all the other items showcased also on the web site www.shop.sergiobonelli.it.

A new home in Milan for our much-loved characters, just a short distance for our historic headquarters in Via Buonarroti. An important welcome for our world in the chain of general book shops and a moment of great emotion and satisfaction for the entire publishing house.
Davide Bonelli

We are delighted that a leading player in the history of comics such as Bonelli has chosen Mondadori Store for this new project, which will further enhance our offer. We are certain that the new Bonelli Point inside the Mondadori Megastore in Via Marghera will become a point of reference fro all comic fans, from Milan and beyond.
Francesco Riganti, marketing director, Mondadori Retail

Bonelli Point is an important new opportunity to bring together readers in a large-scale general book store, thanks to the solid collaboration between Sergio Bonelli Editore and Mondadori Store. An exclusive brand where fans can find the entire production of Italy’s leading producer of comics featuring the most popular characters of entire generations.

From today, thanks to an agreement between FlixBus, the start-up that has become Europe’s leading coach operator, and Mondadori Store, Italy’s most extensive chain of bookstores, it is possible to buy directly from participating Mondadori stores gift cards for coach trips to over 1,200 cities connected by FlixBus in 26 European countries.

Andrea Incondi, Managing Director of FlixBus Italia, commented on the agreement with Mondadori Store: “We are absolutely delighted to be working with Mondadori Store on the launch of this new gift card, which we are sure will be a big hit with the public and enable us to greatly expand awareness of our services across the whole of Italy and attracting passengers by our concept of travel which has always been something valuable to share and also to give as a gift.”

“The new FlixBus gift card will help us to extend and diversify even more the range of products and services offered by Mondadori Store in the travel sector, an all-round offer that takes in culture and entertainment, aimed also at young people,” stated Francesco Riganti, marketing director of Mondadori Retail.

Meanwhile, Antonio Sorrentino, chief executive of Domec, added: “Domec is immensely proud to participate in the growth of an important brand like FlixBus, providing the support of our technology in order to achieve such ambitious business objectives.”

The gift card is available in three denominations: (€25, €50 and €100) that can be used to buy tickets online (at www.flixbus.it) or using the app, with the code provided on the receipt. Operational processing is by Domec, the Fintech company that operates in the sector of innovative payment and loyalty systems.

Mondadori Retail, Italy’s most extensive network of book shops with 600 outlets. is aiming to grow further with a development plan for the opening of new Mondadori Bookstores across the country, and offering opportunities to become an affiliate of the  chain.

The business model that characterises the Mondadori Group’s is franchising. With over 550 affiliated outlets across Italy, Mondadori Retail offers a capillary coverage able to reach customers even in the smallest towns. The core assortment of books, is supported by a range of other products, such as music, films, stationery and toys, for an all-round cultural offer.

The Mondadori Retail affiliation proposal is aimed at entrepreneurs with a great passion for books and reading, and who want to become protagonists of the cultural life of their town and able to enhance the relationship with customers and the surrounding area.

“Our franchisees can rely on a prestigious brand, consolidated know-how and all of the experience of the leading bookstore group with a solid image built up over the years that is a reference point for culture and entertainment. Our bookstore development plan foresees the expansion of our presence to the most interesting locations, including the region of Puglia, with the aim of bringing our offer even closer to the public,” declared Leonardo Gazza, Mondadori Retail’s sales director for both directly managed and franchised stores.

Affiliates in Puglia will receive all-round support from Mondadori Retail, from the search for and selection of locations to the layout, the definition of the assortment and training, as well as a framework agreement with banks.

To this end, a collaboration arrangement for the region of Puglia has been organised with the Banca Popolare di Bari, which has very deep roots in the area in which Mondadori Retail wants to develop, in order to provide a tailor-made offer, and making use of all of the location-specific financing opportunities.

The Mondadori Retail affiliation proposal will be presented during four Open Days: on Wednesday 21 June in Altamura (c/o Hotel Fuori Le Mura​ – via Maestri del lavoro, 5); Thursday 22 June in Barletta (c/o BEST WESTERN Hotel dei Cavalieri – via Foggia, 40); Wednesday 28 June in Santa Maria al Bagno – Nardò (c/o Grand Hotel Riviera – CDSHotels – via E. Filiberto, 172-174); and Thursday 29 June in Brindisi (c/o Grande Albergo Internazionale – Viale Regina Margherita, 23.). The events will take place between 5 and 7 pm.

For information and bookings: roberta.sambinello@mondadori.it – www.mondadoriretail.com

They are now famous, a constant, a distinctive sign as well as an authentic signature. They are Pao’s (Paolo Bordino) penguins, the protagonists of the “Penguin Heroes” exhibition, from June 13 to July 9 at st art. Art for all, the new artistic project conceived and promoted by Mondadori Store and curated by Angelo Crespi at the Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo. Penguins that are cheerful, simple and full of life, who inevitably provoke a smile and have already “invaded” Italy: in Bologna, Turin, Milan and many other cities.

Born in Milan in 1977, Pao’s first “gym” was the theatre where he trained as a machine operator, sound engineer and stage technician with the company of Franca Rame and Dario Fo. After studying and working at the Teatro alla Scala workshops in Milan, from around 2000, he ventured into street art, which he has never left: urban artwork, created out of curiosity, became more and more frequent, and led to the famous “Panettoni” (road blockers) in the form of penguins, aliens and characters from popular culture, from Star Wars’ R2D2 to the superhero Iron Man.

“In 2000 I was just drawing cartoons for my personal pleasure, then one day I saw a coloured kerbstone. It was a light bulb moment and made me think that it could become one of my characters. From the preparatory drawings, a penguin emerged that said, “draw me”. That was how I started drawing a whole population on the street. In fact a friend of mine said that my name, Pao, stands for Pinguini ad Oltranza (Penguins forever). Since then penguins have become my trademark, almost a totemic animal,” the artist recalls.

2005 saw the creation of the Paopao Studio, the creative and operational base of Pao and Laura, a graphic designer who, with Pao, created and developed graphics and communication projects. Various ventures with big companies led to Pao expanding production and to look for new media, which led to experimentations with materials, prospective research, visual distortions and a study of curved geometry that resulted in the development of his art on canvas and three-dimensional fiberglass. His works do not just form part of the urban context, but become an integral part of the urban environment, and also of mass society, which is reflected in some of his works. To date, Pao’s work has been exhibited at various art exhibitions, including the Milan Contemporary Art Pavilion, the Triennale of Milan and the Venice Biennale.

That Pao’s art is for everyone is also reflected in his words: “My sources of inspiration are varied, ranging from pop art to comics, as well as video games and cartoons. Using elements that are familiar to everyone to express concepts is a good way of creating art that people can understand. Today, Homer Simpson is more famous than the President of the United States, and superheroes are the new saints. So it’s normal to use this new iconography.”

Pao’s “penguin heroes” exhibition is the first of the new cycle of st art for all. It will be followed by “stencil mood story” by Mr Savethewall (from 11 July to 10 September), Giacom’s “contemporary comics mix” (from 12 September to 8 October) and “pop up flowers” by Cardeña (from 10 October to 12 November). The first four artists are among the best examples of street or pop art, starting from Pao, one of the most recognisable, having worked in both the urban context and the broader world of communications. His show will be followed by exhibitions of Mr Savethewall, Massimo Giacon, by Felipe Cardeña, each of whom represents in a personal way the contemporary art in this genre.

All of the exhibitions feature original work and the creation of copies and gadgets available to the public at affordable prices. In addition, installations and performances will also feature, making the exhibition space a moment of entertainment and communication.

“UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY ART”

In June a cycle of conferences will begin with the “Understading Contemporay Art”, in which artists, curators and authors will have a chance to discuss, with book and catalogue presentations, the much discussed issue of how to approach contemporary art, alos in its more eccentric and surprising manifestations.

Initially conceived for the two Mondadori Megastores in Milan (Duomo and Marghera), the “st art”, project wants to involve the entire Mondadori Retail area, which now has some 600 outlets across Italy, as well as though online communication and e-commerce, points of excellence for the Group, by creating an new short circuit between books and pop art, physical and online exhibitions, original work and multiple copies, digital and traditional communication, to encourage and stimulate the dissemination and contamination of art and the public.

st art is an artistic project curated by Angelo Crespi, and has been made possible by the invaluable contribution of Sergio Pappalettera, visual artist and expert in marketing and communication strategies. st art is produced in partnership with Deodato Arte.

st art. Art for all
Mondadori Megastore, Piazza Duomo Milan
Open: 9 am – 11 pm | Entrance: Free
www.mondadoristore.it | #StartInStore

Mondadori Store is launching “st art. L’arte per tutti” (Art for all), a new calendar of exhibitions featuring pop art and a cycle of encounters between artists, curators and authors, organised by Angelo Crespi, with the aim of making contemporary art and its protagonists even more comprehensible and accessible, starting from the most pop dimension. In fact, today, one of the most interesting areas of contemporary art is street and pop art, an essentially democratic art, with a strong public connotation, able also to face up to and play with the world of media.

The first names on show include, Pao, Felipe Cardeña, Massimo Giacon and Mr. Savethewall.

WIKI COLLAGE & PLOTTER TAKE AWAY

“st art” was inaugurated with a collective public live performance of WIKI COLLAGE & PLOTTER TAKE AWAY, an enormous 8 metre-long collage of cut outs from the pop art of the first four artists featured in the new programme – Pao’s penguins, the flowers and Superman by Felipe Cardeña, Massimo Giacon’s figures and those by Mr. Savethewall.

The collage was produced directly by the public, supervised by a crew of young assistants, with the possibility of logging the posters by the artitists present nad take them home. Produced by the Mondadori Store with Cardeña Crew and Atelier Spazio Xpò, in collaboration with DeodatoArte.

FROM 13 JUNE: A NEW CYCLE OF EXHIBITIONS

13 June – 9 July: Pao / “penguin heroes”

11 July – 10 September: Mr. Savethewall / “stencil mood story”

12 September – 8 October: Giacon / “contemporary comics mix”

10 October – 12 November: Cardeña / “pop up flowers”

The first four artists on show at st art from 13 June, in the events area on the third floor of the Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo in Milan, are among the best exemplars of street or pop art, starting with Pao who is the most recognisable having worked in both an urban context and more widely in the media. This will be followed in succession by Mr. Savethewall, Massimo Giacon, and Felipe Cardeña, each of whom represents this type of contemporary art in their own way. The shows will feature original works and the creation of multiples and gadgets, available to the public. There will also be a series of installations and performances, making the exhibition space also a focal point for shows and communication.

FROM THE BOOK TO THE SPACE

From 16 May, inside the Mondadori Megastore, a work by the Korean artist Jukhee Kwon, entitled Fromthebooktothespace” a word sculpture, will also be on display. The work, which is organised vertically, extending 12 metres from the third floor, reaching the first floor of the Megastore, is made up of “a book that – as the curator of the show Cinzia Chiari says – is a suspended sculpture made of old books, the publications of the kind of great authors who have made the history of literature; volumes, often abandoned and unused, that the Korean artists finds in bookshops across the world among rare editions. Jukhee inscribes each book by hand with the precision and patience that is part of his orentale background. The pages create sculpted scenes that open and fall as if they were a cascade of letters, and suggesting the need for words to come out of the books in order to be read. A eulogy to the printed book that, despite the advent of digital, remains a necessary, fundamental and irreplaceable support. The book opens up and expands, becoming an object that, in its new physical and metaphorical form, sublimates itself in a work of art.”

“UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY ART”

In June a cycle of conferences will begin with the “Understading Contemporay Art”, in which artists, curators and authors will have a chance to discuss, with book and catalogue presentations, the much discussed issue of how to approach contemporary art, alos in its more eccentric and surprising manifestations.

Initially conceived for the two Mondadori Megastores in Milan (Duomo and Marghera), the “st art”, project wants to involve the entire Mondadori Retail area, which now has some 600 outlets across Italy, as well as though online communication and e-commerce, points of excellence for the Group, by creating an new short circuit between books and pop art, physical and online exhibitions, original work and multiple copies, digital and traditional communication, to encourage and stimulate the dissemination and contamination of art and the public.

st art is an artistic project curated by Angelo Crespi.

st art has been made possible by the invaluable contribution of Sergio Pappalettera, visual artist and expert in marketing and communication strategies, who designed the logo and the integrated communications of the entire project.

st art is produced in partnership with Deodato Arte, a brand established in 2001 which, since 2012, has concentrated on communications and the on and offline sale, above all, of pop artists linked to street art.

st art. Art for all
Mondadori Megastore, Piazza Duomo Milan
Open: 9 am – 11 pm | Entrance: Free
www.mondadoristore.it | #StartInStore

Mondadori Store, Italy’s most extensive network of bookshops, today brings its customers Apple Pay, which is transforming mobile payments with an easy, secure and private way to pay that’s fast and convenient.

Apple Pay is available at Mondadori Stores in all of Italy’s main cities, which means that Mondadori Store can offer its customers an even more gratifying and innovative shopping experience that simplifies and accelerates the buying process, which takes just a second by holding your iPhone near the reader with your finger on Touch ID.

Security and privacy is at the core of Apple Pay. When you use a credit or debit card with Apple Pay, the actual card numbers are not stored on the device, nor on Apple servers. Instead, a unique Device Account Number is assigned, encrypted and securely stored in the Secure Element on your device. Each transaction is authorized with a one-time unique dynamic security code.

Apple Pay is easy to set up and users will continue to receive all of the rewards and benefits offered by credit and debit cards. In stores, Apple Pay works with iPhone SE, iPhone 6 and later, and Apple Watch.

Online shopping in apps and on websites accepting Apple Pay is as simple as the touch of a finger with Touch ID, so there’s no need to manually fill out lengthy account forms or repeatedly type in shipping and billing information. When paying for goods and services on the go in apps or Safari, Apple Pay works with iPhone 6 and later, iPhone SE, iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 3 and later. You can also use Apple Pay in Safari on any Mac introduced in or after 2012 running macOS Sierra and confirm the payment with iPhone 6 or later or Apple Watch, or with Touch ID on the new MacBook Pro.

For more information on Apple Pay, visit: https://www.apple.com/it/apple-pay/.

Mondadori Store is Italy’s most extensive chain of bookstores in Italy. With more than 600 outlets across the country and the e-commerce website Mondadoristore.it serving over 20 million customers a year.