Books: art, culture, history in the Foundation’s publications
The Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura also plays a role as a cultural publisher, alongside its activities conserving and promoting the historical Archive of the ‘Compagnia di San Paolo’ and supporting research and specialist studies in the humanities. The aim of the organisation is to make available for scholars, universities and cultural institutions the research and other contributions which result from the Foundation’s work in promoting cultural assets, including archives and libraries, with particular emphasis on:
- deepening familiarity with the archival material in the Historical Archives of the ‘Compagnia di San Paolo’
- undertaking new investigations, also in collaboration with other cultural institutions, into the heritage represented by museums and archives in Turin and Piedmont
- broadening research into the Baroque, a style which in Turin and Piedmont manifested itself in strikingly original ways, as an international cultural system
The publishing activity of the Foundation comprises numerous volumes of collected contributions as well as books on art, culture and history both in series and as individual monographs.
Current series published by the Foundation
The more recent research undertaken by the Historical Archives and the Programme of Studies on Baroque Culture run by the Fondazione 1563 are reflected in the Foundation’s own publishing production, with contributions from various specialists working in the field of the humanities. The themes represented cover a very wide range of subjects – the history of art and architecture, literature, philosophy, music, as well as social and political history – from the 16th to the 20th century. Together with volumes by archivists and historians which draw on the archival heritage found in the Historical Archives of the Compagnia di San Paolo, there are also collections of essays which relate to the research carried out since 2013 by the winners of grants for Advanced Studies into the Baroque programme. The research and other study projects promoted by the Foundation thus give rise to a wide range of publications, on art, the history of art and architecture, and art criticism.
The Foundation’s books are published in partnership with two leading Italian publishing houses, Leo S. Olschki in Florence and Sagep in Genoa. There are at present four series containing books on art, culture and history: three series of ‘Quaderni’ and one dedicated to Baroque studies:
- Quaderni dell’Archivio Storico della Compagnia di San Paolo (Leo S. Olschki Editore);
- Quaderni di Ricerca (Sagep Editori);
- Quaderni delle Borse e dei Premi (Leo S. Olschki Editore);
- Alti Studi sull’Età e la Cultura del Barocco (Specialised Studies on the Baroque Era and its Culture, known as ASCB), published and distributed in digital format.
Past series published by the Foundation
The publications reflecting recent research and produced in partnership with Olschki and Sagep were preceded by earlier series, now closed:
- i Quaderni dell’Archivio Storico della Compagnia di San Paolo (published by Compagnia di San Paolo);
- i Quaderni della Fondazione per l’Arte della Compagnia di San Paolo.
These two collections, under the editorship of authoritative and distinguished scholars from Piedmont and elsewhere, include works of outstanding historical and archival research. The four volumes which make up the Quaderni della Fondazione per l’Arte della Compagnia di San Paolo are precious contributions on art and history. These comprise works by Alessandro Mandolesi (two volumes on ancient Egyptian and Etruscan culture seen in a Piedmontese context; Maria Vittoria Cattaneo and Nadia Ostorero (a study of the Archive of the Compagnia di Sant’Anna dei Luganesi in Turin) and Mauro Volpiano (on the Giuseppe and Bartolomeo Gallo collection which was acquired by the Foundation).
The series Quaderni dell’Archivio Storico della Compagnia di San Paolo, comprising eight volumes published between 1997 and 2011, publicises the fascinating researches promoted by the Foundation which have been carried out among the papers and other documents in the Historical Archives. The first volume in the series was Paola Giordano’s Censi presso la Compagnia di San Paolo di Torino nei secoli XVIII e XIX (‘18th and 19th-century censuses carried out by the Compagnia di San Paolo’), an elaboration of the author’s degree thesis in Law. Later volumes include Fabio Levi’s study of the EGELI archives, Franco Lupano’s volume on the activities of the Company to promote health among the poorer classes in Turin, and a volume on the history of the Company and on the ‘Figlie della Compagnia di San Paolo’ edited by Anna Cantaluppi, Walter E. Crivellin and Bruno Signorelli.
Publications not included in series
Other essays and catalogues were published outside these series as a result of specific initiatives of the Compagnia di San Paolo supported by the Foundation and the Historical Archives, above all the ‘autobiography’ of the Company as an institution, a detailed history from 1563 to the present day, published in two volumes by Einaudi in 2013. This is followed by the essay on the Historical Archives of the Compagnia di San Paolo, a survey of its history and the building which houses the Archives, as well as a detailed and up-to-date guide to the contents. Alongside the volumes on art, culture and history published by the Foundation in the past series, there is an introductory volume, intended for scholars, other institutions and the general public, on the Foundation’s mission and the history of the Compagnia di San Paolo, its Historical Archives and the Duchessa Isabella Girls’ School. Finally there is a guide to the paintings which belonged to Oratorio di San Paolo which are now displayed in the Foundation’s building in Piazza Bernini.
