Exhibition: “Umberto Eco e il nome delle cose. Segni, realtà e interpretazione”

The exhibition "Umberto Eco e il nome delle cose. Segni, realtà e interpretazione" has opened in Rome at Palazzo Firenze. Promoted by the Società Dante Alighieri and the Umberto Eco Foundation, the exhibition marks the tenth anniversary of the death of the writer and semiotician.

APICE has contributed to the exhibition with a wide range of documentary materials that shed light on Eco’s presence and influence within its archives. These include, above all, items preserved in the Bompiani Archive, relating to the historic publishing house that published Eco’s works for many years, and in the Silvana Mauri Archive. Silvana Mauri, niece of Valentino Bompiani, played a key role in the history of the publishing house.

Traces of Umberto Eco can also be found across several other archival collections: in the papers of the art dealer Arturo Schwarz; in articles by Antonio Porta published in Corriere della Sera; in the correspondence of the writer and editor Gina Lagorio; and, most notably, in the Milano Libri Archive, documenting an intellectual and publishing circle to which Eco was deeply connected.

The Philosophy Library also contributed to the exhibition, lending two volumes from the Dino Formaggio Collection.

The exhibition offers an opportunity to rediscover the enduring relevance of Eco’s thought and the value of the materials preserved in archives and libraries - essential places for safeguarding, interpreting and passing on the cultural memory of our time.