Cortona On The Move16° edition – Beautiful Country, artistic direction by Renata Ferri. Bookshop curated by Leporello photobooks et al. at Palazzo Vagnotti

We are delighted to share some great news: this year, Leporello will be curating the festival bookshop. A wide range of publications will be available not only during the opening days but throughout the entire duration of the festival.

In addition to a selection of works by the exhibiting artists, Leporello is presenting an overview of the most interesting Italian photography publishers, alongside a curated selection of international publishers whose catalogs align with the themes of this year’s festival.

The theme of the 2026 edition is *Beautiful Country*, a curatorial project by Renata Ferri that invites reflecting on the contemporary gaze and the relationship between image, memory, and identity.

The festival unfolds as an exploration of Italy over recent decades: an open visual atlas—a “journey of journeys”—in which photography becomes a tool for critical and poetic inquiry. Italian and international artists engage in a dialogue that blends the spirit of the Grand Tour with the depth of contemporary investigative practice.

Beyond our extensive collection of publications, the Leporello pop-up bookshop is hosting a dedicated lineup of live events. Here is the complete schedule of artist presentations and book signings taking place throughout the opening days of the festival:

Thursday July 17th – INAGURATION!
10am-6pm | PALAZZO VAGNOTTI
the Bookshop curated by Leporello photobooks et al.

Friday July 18th
10am-6pm | PALAZZO VAGNOTTI
the Bookshop curated by Leporello photobooks et al.

Book Presentations, Palazzo Vagnotti:

10am-11am Guilty Grounds, Steffi Reimers with Daria Scolamacchia
11am-12pm Der Sturm, Paolo Ventura with Daria Scolamacchia
12pm-1pm Una foto è una foto è una foto, Silvia Camporesi with Carola Allemandi
3pm-4pm Pietraia, Jacopo Benassi, Giulia Cenci and Antonio Grulli with Carola Allemandi
4pm-5pm Scrittura obliqua. Fotografia e poesia with Davide Rondoni, Michele Nastasi, Paolo Ventura, Luca Campigotto, Matteo Balduzzi
5pm-6pm Italian Story, Andrea Modica with Daria Scolamacchia, Gianluca and Gianmarco Gamberini (L’Artiere)

Book Signings, each guided tour at Palazzo Baldelli will be followed by the book-signing at the pop-up bookstore at Palazzo Vagnotti:
10:30am-11am Reversed Landscape – Silvia Camporesi
11am-11:30am Realpolitik – Marco P. Valli and Luca Santese
12pm-12:30pm Failed postcards from Napoli – Kourtney Roy
12:30pm-1pm G.R. GRACE RECEIVED – Paolo Ventura
2:30pm-3pm Video-Stadium – Paola Di Bello
3pm-3:30pm At Italo’s house – Fotoromanzo Italiano
4pm-4:30pm Under the Volcano with Chiara Indelicato and Renata Ferri (Artistic director COTM)
4:30pm-5pm Rest stop. Italy Through the Lens of the Eni archives with Lucia Nardi (Responsabile Cultura d’impresa Eni) and Renata Ferri (Artistic director COTM)
5pm-5:30pm Milano at the edges with Giovanna Calvenzi, Angelo Leonardo and Renata Ferri
5:30pm-6pm The border I am. With Médecins Sans Frontières: journey, waiting and care – Francesco Anselmi
6pm-6:30pm Cosmogonies – Antonio Biasiucci

Saturday July 19th
10am-6pm | PALAZZO VAGNOTTI
the Bookshop curated by Leporello photobooks et al.

Book Presentations, Palazzo Vagnotti:

10am-11am Hidden collections, Giorgio Di Noto with Carola Allemandi
11am-12pm Aprire lo sguardo, Alessandra Mauro with Carola Allemandi
12pm-1pm Lasciamo immagini dietro di noi, Giorgio Barrera with Carola Allemandi
3pm-4pm Replaced, Diana Markosian with Antonio Carloni
4pm-5pm Altera Italia, Alessia Rollo with Chiara Capodici
5pm-6pm Gli Isolani, Alys Tomlinson with Daria Scolamacchia

Book Signings, each guided tour will be followed by the book signing at the pop-up bookstore at Palazzo Vagnotti:

Tours at Palazzo Baldelli:

10am-10:30am Perfect beauty – Renata Ferri for Candida Höfer
10:30am-11am Bingo – Jason Fulford
11am-11:30am Dioramas – Sohei Nishino

Tours at Palazzo Anderini-Gili:
12pm-12:30pm Sonata – Aaron Schuman
12:30pm-1pm Italian Story – Andrea Modica

Tours at Fortezza del Girifalco:
3pm-3:30pm Stella Inquieta – Mattia Balsamini and Raffaele Panizza
3:30pm-4pm Gli Isolani– Alys Tomlinson
4pm-4:30pm Guilty Grounds – Steffi Reimers
4:30m-5pm OverTourism – Alessandro Toscano

Saturday July 20th
10am-6pm | PALAZZO VAGNOTTI
the Bookshop curated by Leporello photobooks et al.

Book Presentations, Palazzo Vagnotti:

10:00-11:00 The Pixel, Francesca Seravalle with Daria Scolamacchia
11:00-12:00 The Lines We Draw, Lavinia Parlamenti and Manfredi Pantanella with Chiara Capodici
12:00-13:00 Cara Foresta, Guido Gazzilli with Daria Scolamacchia

The exhibition program features thirty-three shows—ranging from solo and group exhibitions to intergenerational dialogues, new projects, and commissioned works—presenting a complex portrait of the country, where wonder intertwines with disillusionment.

The collective exhibition Peninsula, a commission involving ten artists– Arianna Arcara, Fabio Barile, Marina Caneve, Federico Clavarino, Matteo De Mayda, Giorgio Di Noto,  Alessandro Imbriaco, Rachele Maistrello, Giulia Parlato e Giovanna Silva –, complements a series of solo exhibitions: Campagna Romana, by Joel Sternfeld, Perfect Beauty, by Candida Höfer, Failed Postcards from Napoli by Kourtney Roy, Songs of a Lost World, by Botto&Bruno, Cosmoogonies, by Antonio Biasucci, Milano at the edges, a dialogue between the images, taken between the ’80 and the ’90, by Gabriele Basilico anf those by Angelo Leonardo, from the project Le Monde Ou Rien, Italian Story, by Andrea Modica, Stella Inquieta (Restless Star), by Mattia Balsamini and Raffaele Panizza, Paparazzi, from the editorial project curated by Francesco Piccolo, Sonata, by Aaron Schuman, Guilty Grounds, by Steffi Reimers, Diorami, by Sohei Nishino, Rave, with photographs by Mattia Zoppellaro and Chiara Fossati, Stromboli, presented through the double gaze of Federico Patellani, who in 1949 documented what was going on both in the Island and on the set of Stromboli (Terra di Dio) by Roberto Rossellini – and of Chiara Indelicato, author of Pelle di Lava, Settimana Santa, by Ivan Carozzi and Giulia Mangione, Restful Oasis. Italy in the Images of the Eni Archive, Battle Royale, where the research by visual artist Federica Sasso is presented with an immersive installation curated by Emanuele Amighetti, When the night falls, by Luca Campigotto, The border I am. With Medici Senza Frontiere (Doctors Without Borders): travel, waiting, and care, by Francesco Anselmi, For the grace received, by Paolo Ventura, Reversed landscape, by Silvia Camporesi, The Islanders, by Alys Tomlinson, Bingo, by Jason Fulford, Realpolitik, by Marco P. Valli and Luca Santese, In search of the wolf and the saint, by the Spanish photographer Yago Soria Díaz, At Italo’s House. An Italian Collection, a project conceived by Fotoromanzo Italiano (Giorgio Barrera, Andrea Botto e Michele Apicella) a partial re-arrangement of the home of Italo Manzo, a collector, patron, and enthusiast of Italian popular culture, OverTourism, by Alessandro Toscano, Video-Stadio, by Paola Di Bello, A Lidiput, by Moira Ricci, Gino Severini, upclose, by Fabrizio Vatieri, and Groundswell Project, realized in collaboration with Photo Museum Ireland, FOTOHOF and Imago Lisboa.