On Wednesday, 20 September, a new Mondadori Bookstore will open its doors to the public in Arezzo. During the opening – starting from 6 p.m. – Chiara Francini will be present to sign copies of her latest book, “Forte e chiara (Strong and Clear)”, published by Rizzoli.

The Mondadori Bookstore in Arezzo will be a landmark for all book lovers thanks to its rich publishing offerings, curated by a team of five passionate booksellers, and a calendar of events with leading figures from the world of culture and entertainment. The new opening will expand the already extensive Mondadori Store network in the area, making a new hub dedicated to the world of books, culture and entertainment available to the public.

“The opening of my tenth bookstore stems from the desire to increasingly expand the presence of bookstores in Italy, offering the public the opportunity to find what they are looking for, to be able to connect with books and bookstores and booksellers in their daily life. Thanks to the collaboration with Mondadori Store I’ve been able to express my passion and entrepreneurship. I’m increasingly aiming to strengthen the relationship between bookstores and local governments with the goal of being able to operate in complete cooperation and collaboration. This is yet another challenge for me, but the confidence I have in the power of culture makes me think about the future positively,” said Antonio Verderame, an entrepreneur affiliated with the Mondadori Store bookstore network.

The new bookstore extends over an area of 120 square metres, is spread over two floors, and offers more than 1,2000 titles, from the great classics to fiction, not forgetting young readers with the We are Junior format, which includes educational and illustrated games to stimulate their imagination with the most curious stories, and the innovative department dedicated to the phenomenon of manga and comics, Just Comics. Also expanding the store’s offerings are areas dedicated to stationery, toys, gift cards and gift boxes. 

The Mondadori Bookstore in Via Roma 15 in Arezzo also serves readers online: customers can keep up-to-date through its Facebook and Instagram pages. They will also be able to get in touch with the bookstore through the Mondadoristore.it digital services to check whether a book is available, order it and pick it up in the store or have it delivered to their home, choosing from a catalogue of more than 1 million titles.

Mondadori Store is the largest network of bookstores in Italy: a cultural organisation active nationwide through more than 500 stores in large cities and small towns alike, and online through the e-commerce website Mondadoristore.it. In addition to books, its core offer, it organises fun experiences, events and multi-channel services, reaching more than 20 million customers each year.

MONDADORI BOOKSTORE
Via Roma 15 – Arezzo – Postcode 52100
Opening times: Mon–Sat 9:00–20:00/ Sun 9 –13.00; 16:30–20:30
E-mail: mondadoribookstorearezzo@gmail.com
Phone: +39 0575.083162
https://www.mondadoristore.it/negozi
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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.

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

The Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo, the largest space dedicated to culture and leisure in the heart of Milan, celebrates with the public it’s first 10 years with a calendar of events, from 19 April right through to the end of May.

For tens years an exceptional driver of cultural events and presentations in the city, the Mondadori Megastore in Piazza Duomo has in this time become an established point of meeting and entertainment for Milan with a varied offer ranging from meetings with authors, singers and protagonists from the world of entertainment to workshops and initiatives for children.

In the week from 19 to 23 April dedicated to the  new book fair Tempo di Libri, the Mondadori Megastore Duomo will also become one of the locations for Fuori Tempo di Libri, a series on events that will animate the city of Milan with book-related activities such as readings, literary cocktails and musical performances.

The inaugural event will take place on Wednesday 19 April, from 5.30 pm to 9 pm when the megastore will be animated by cosplayers and literary-themed games (Sherlock Holmes, Madame Bovary, Wonder Woman, Harry Potter), wine and chocolate to toast the store’s 10^th anniversary, free sweets for customers and the opening to the public of the 3^rd floor terrace, for those who wish to photograph Piazza Duomo from a privileged vantage point.

At 6.30 pm authors in conversation moderated by Alessandro Barbaglia, with the writers Paola Calvetti (Mondadori), Fabiana Giacomotti (Mondadori Electa), Marco Weiss (Frassinelli) and the B.Livers (Sperling&Kupfer).

The cosplayers of Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, Madame Bovary and Alice in Wonderland will also animate Sunday 23 April, from 5.30 to 9 pm.

An award ceremony will take place on Thursday 20 April at 6 pm for the first edition of the competition “6 romanzi in cerca di autore” (6 Novels in Search of an Author), organised by Kobo Writing Life, Mondadori Store and PassioneScrittore, and aimed at aspiring authors and self publishers.

At 6 pm on Friday 21 April the protagonists will be the singer Nada, presenting her new album La posa, recorded with Ferruccio Spinetti and Fausto Mesolella, and the writer Antonio Dikele Distefano, bookseller for a day.

On Saturday 22 April at 6.30 pm, another opportunity to hear authors in conversation moderated by Alessandro Barbaglia, with the writers Carolina Bocca (Mondadori Electa), Maurizio de Giovanni (Einaudi), Marcello Fois (Einaudi), Sabina Minardi (Piemme), Sara Rattaro (Sperling&Kupfer) and Michele Vaccari (Frassinelli) and finally, on Sunday 23 April at 4.30 pm, the actor and director Gabriele Lavia will meet the public and sign copies of the book Se vuoi essere contemporaneo leggi i classici (Piemme).

Not only the Mondadori Megastore Duomo, but also the Mondadori Megastores in Via Marghera and Via San Pietro all’Orto and the Rizzoli Galleria will host stories and authors during the week of Tempo di Libri.

At the Mondadori Megastore in Via Marghera, a series of aperitivi with authors will start on Wednesday 19 April at 7 pm 19 with Giulio Xhaet and his I sogni di Martino Sterio (Mondadori Electa), continuing on Thursday 20 April at 8 pm with Giacomo Mazzariol and Mio fratello rincorre i dinosauri (Einaudi), together with Alessandro Barbaglia.

On Friday 21 April at 5 pm, David De Juan Marcos will meet the public to present La migliore delle vite (HarperCollins) and at 7 pm 19 another aperitivo presented by Alessandro Barbaglia withSergio Bambaren, the author of Storia della piccola volpe che mi insegnò il perdono (Sperling&Kupfer).

And finally, on Saturday 22 April at 7 pm, a aperitivo with the authors Enrica Tesio (Mondadori) and Guido Catalano (Rizzoli) on the subject of ET Telefono Casa – Dialoghi d’amore del terzo tipo.

On Thursday 20 April at 7 pm, the  Mondadori Megastore in Via San Pietro all’Orto will host Leslie Lokko, author of La debuttante (Mondadori), in collaboration withDonna Moderna, and on Saturday 22 April at 6.30 pm, the poet Roberto Mussapi with La piuma del Simorgh (Mondadori).

At the Rizzoli Galleria on Wednesday 19 April at 6.30 pm, Andrea Salonia will present the book Domani, chiameranno domani (Mondadori) and on Thursday  20 April at 5.30 pm an event for children with a preview of the illustrated concert byLittle Pier, author of the album Lasciateci la fantasia.

Meanwhile, on Friday and Saturday authors will become booksellers for “È tempo di librai”: on 21 April from 6.30 to 7.30 pm, Roberto Perrone, and from 7.30 to 8.30 pm Marcello Simoni; and on 22 April from 7 to 8 pm Marco Malvaldi and from 8 to 9 pm Paola Calvetti.

Events marking the 10^th anniversary of the Mondadori Megastore Duomo will continue for the whole of April and May.

For more information and a complete list of events, please go to: www.eventi.mondadoristore.it

Mondadori Store is once again the “Retalier of the Year Italy 2016-2017” in the “bookstore” category, the leading Italian award based on consumer assessment which, for the third consecutive year, rewards the buying experience offered by Italy’s most extensive chain of bookstores.

Mondadori Store obtained the highest score among the eligible candidates  in the “bookstore” category. Nine main aspects in the buying process were judged by customers who in recent months were asked to express their evaluations: the price/quality ration, price levels, special and promotional offers; service, training and courtesy of staff, assortment, atmosphere and innovation.

With 600 sales outlets across the country, and three different shop formats – Megastore, Bookstore and Point – every year Mondadori Store serves more than 20 million customers, that in addition to books and a variety of other products, offers service from qualified staff and experience in entertainment. This award is an encouragement to Mondadori Retail to continue to offer its clientele an environment that is increasingly stimulating and surprising.

Retailer of the Year is an international award, first launched in 2003 under the name Beste Winkelketen in the Netherlands and  subsequently expanded as Retailer of the Year to Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and, from this year, also Russia.

It has been present in Italy for 9 years, 3 of which with the name “Insegna dell’Anno Italia” (www.insegnadellanno.it). Insegna dell’Anno Italia is an initiative by Q&A Research & Consultancy, organised by SEIC – Studio Orlandini.