by Redazione 19/10/2026
Categories: Events / Disclaimer
From October 28 to November 1, Lucca Comics & Games returns to the historic center of Lucca with the theme “Legacy.” The program includes an exhibition celebrating the festival’s 60th anniversary at Palazzo Guinigi, a tribute to Go Nagai, a special feature on Valentina, and an exhibition dedicated to spokon, Japanese sports manga.
Lucca Comics & Games will celebrate its 60th anniversary from October 28 to November 1, 2026, with a program of exhibitions and events centered on the theme of “Legacy.” Unveiled on September 24—the exact day the event was founded in 1966—the new edition will take place in the streets, squares, and historic buildings of the Tuscan city. The program focuses on the festival’s history and the passing of the torch to new generations, with a special emphasis on comics, their creators, and the visual culture they have helped to spread.
The poster for this edition was designed by Claudio Castellini, an Italian artist who has also worked in the United States and helped redefine the aesthetic of modern superhero comics. The illustration brings together characters linked to the posters of past editions: Lu, the heroine created by Zerocalcare and a symbol of the festival’s audience; Don Maitz’s Sandokan; Phil Hale’s gorilla with a robot; Ted Nasmith’s Lady Hope; and Ciruelo’s dragon. In the center is a superhero holding a little girl, the Yellow Kid, who is about to pick up a pencil.
The theme of passing the torch to new generations is also tangibly reflected in the collaboration with Louise Stéphant, a young author and winner of the Petit Fauve Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival, who was commissioned to create an alternate version of the poster. The image will be unveiled on October 28 during the opening ceremony at the Teatro del Giglio Giacomo Puccini. The exhibition *Tocchi da maestro* (Masterful Touches), on view at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni of the Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lucca, is also dedicated to Castellini and traces the major milestones of his career.
The 2026 edition also draws on the event’s Italian roots and the values of inclusion embodied in the European Union’s motto, “United in Diversity.” The European Parliament and the European Union will sponsor the initiative. According to the organizers, this will also be the edition with the largest number of booths and pavilions in the festival’s history.
Palazzo Guinigi, an exhibition telling the story of the festival
The central project of the anniversary is “Lucca Legacy: a comics and games story,” an exhibition open from October 3, 2026, on the second floor of Palazzo Guinigi. Produced by Lucca Crea in collaboration with POLI.design at the Politecnico di Milano, under the scientific supervision of DISEGS at the “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, and with the participation of the Bono Fund of the National Central Library of Florence, the exhibition is supported by the City of Lucca and features Rai Teche as a cultural partner.
The exhibition is not conceived as a simple historical archive, but as a space intended to evolve over time, thanks in part to public participation. Visitors can explore the rooms accompanied by Luke and Clea, mascots created by Sergio Algozzino, using either the paper-based game “Check Point Legacy” or an app featuring interactive challenges.
The nine rooms explore different aspects of the event’s history. “Cover Stories” presents the festival’s history through its covers, while “Time Machine” traces the evolution of historic posters, and “Tree of Strips” lists the names of hundreds of authors. The Legacy Room brings together memories and testimonials; the Roll of Honor is dedicated to award-winning comics and games, while the Dreamers Room offers a sensory experience. In the Hall of Games, visitors can try out games in person.
The tour concludes with The Vault, a storage room where visitors can deposit items related to their festival experience, according to defined access procedures. Some of these memorabilia may be used for new Cover Stories or become part of the future Lucca Comics Museum, also planned for Palazzo Guinigi. A room dedicated to the project will be curated by NEXT Urban Solutions—which is already involved in designing the future museum site in the former Manifattura Tabacchi—in collaboration with museologist Anna Villari and featuring a video concept by architect and visual designer Stanislao Cantono of Ceva.
Go Nagai, Valentina, and Sports in Manga: The Main Exhibitions
Among the exhibition highlights is “Go Nagai: Sun, Heart, and Steel,” scheduled from October 28 to November 1 at the Fondazione Banca del Monte. The exhibition is dedicated to the Japanese manga artist who left an indelible mark on the history of manga and anime, with a particular focus on the robots that have been a fundamental part of his body of work.
Mazinga Z and Goldrake form the core of the exhibition: the former is considered a decisive milestone in the development of the mecha genre in Japan, while the latter became a cultural phenomenon in Italy and one of the symbols of the spread of Japanese animation in the country beginning in 1978. The exhibition continues with other famous creations, including Jeeg, Great Mazinger, and Getter Robot, before moving on to *Devilman*, a work in which Nagai develops a provocative portrayal of the demonic aspect of human nature, inspired in part by *The Divine Comedy* as illustrated by Gustave Doré. The exhibition concludes with the author’s comic book adaptation of the Divine Comedy.
At Palazzo Guinigi, from October 3 to November 1, visitors can see “Valentina: Three Decades of Milan Through the Eyes of an Icon,” dedicated to the character created by Guido Crepax. The exhibition examines the protagonist’s role in European comics of the 1960s, a period when Italian comic production underwent a phase of significant renewal, alongside works such as *Linus*, Pratt’s *Corto Maltese*, Buzzelli’s *La rivolta dei racchi*, and Buzzati’s *Poema a fumetti*.
Valentina serves as the lens through which Crepax interprets the culture of his time, weaving comics together with cinema, fashion, contemporary art, photography, and literature. The selected panels—most of which have not been on public display in recent years—offer a glimpse into Milan during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The initiative is organized in collaboration with the Crepax Archive.
The program also extends to Japan Town, where “Spokon: Sports, Tears, and Victory!” will be on display from October 28 to November 1. The exhibition traces the history of Japanese sports manga, a genre whose name derives from the combination of the English words “sport” and “spirit.” The exhibition begins with the titles that defined the genre’s character, such as Rocky Joe, Mimi and the National Volleyball Team (Attack No. 1), *Jenny the Tennis Player* and *Tommy, Star of the Giants*, and moves on to the hits of the 1980s and 1990s—including *Captain Tsubasa* (*Holly* and *Benji*) and *Slam Dunk*—all the way to more recent works such as *Haikyu!!* and *Blue Lock*.
Original artwork, animation cels, memorabilia from Japan, and Italian promotional materials document the evolution of the genre. Curated by Giorgia Vecchini with the support of Alessandro Apreda, known as Doc Manhattan, the exhibition explores how athletic competition becomes a narrative of sacrifice, determination, and redemption.
The board game sector also features in the anniversary program with “Lucca is a Legacy Game,” an exhibition curated by Andrea Angiolino and open to the public from October 28 to November 1 at the Carducci Pavilion. The project is dedicated to so-called “legacy games”—games in which the choices made during one playthrough influence subsequent ones, progressively transforming the game system and, in some cases, creating a one-of-a-kind experience. This genre, which emerged about fifteen years ago from an idea by Rob Daviau—a former guest at previous editions of the festival—will be explored through a selection of objects and titles displayed in the showcases. Some games can be tried out directly at the tables in the Games Café.
The Comics Area: Over 80 Publishers and 400 International Guests
In addition to the exhibitions and other themed areas, one of the highlights of Lucca Comics & Games 2026 will be the Comics area, which will bring the historic center to life with offerings from over 80 Italian and international publishers and the presence of more than 400 guests from around the world. Comics will take center stage at the Napoleone Pavilion, which this year will once again occupy the entire square with a single-span tensile structure spanning over 3,000 square meters dedicated to the Ninth Art, as well as at the Napoleone 2 Pavilion. The exhibition spaces will also extend into Piazza del Giglio, with areas reserved for collectors, major art galleries, and artists’ personal booths, where visitors can purchase original artwork and commission custom drawings.
The 2026 edition also sets a record for monographic pavilions: ten will be set up in the squares and on the ramparts of the city walls, dedicated to individual publishers or organizations in the sector. This presence expands the festival’s offerings for comic book enthusiasts across its various forms. The announced authors will come from all over Europe and from countries outside Europe, including the United States, Canada, Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Argentina, Ukraine, Russia, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, and Palestine. The Asian contingent will be particularly large, with 15 Japanese creators, five from Taiwan, two from China, and three from South Korea.
Major International Guests
This year’s event features a vast array of guests, including notable figures such as Alberto Angela—a science communicator, essayist, and television host—who will be on hand to meet the public, and Frank Miller, the American author and comic book artist known for works such as *Sin City* and *300*. Also joining them are American writers and comic book artists Jonathan Hickman and Brian Michael Bendis, artist Darick Robertson, Spanish comic book artist Paco Roca, American comic book artist and illustrator Tillie Walden, and actor and director Joe Manganiello, who will serve as curator of the section dedicated to the role-playing game *Dungeons & Dragons*.
Rai Cultura chronicles the festival’s 60-year history with the documentary *60 volte Lucca*
The history of the event will also be the focus of *60 volte Lucca: L’avventura storia di Lucca Comics & Games*, a special produced by Rai Cultura to celebrate the festival’s 60th anniversary. Written and directed by Enrico Platania, the documentary traces the event’s history through the testimonies of those who work on its organization today and archival footage from Rai Teche.
The narrative begins in 1966, the year the International Comics Fair was founded, and traces the event’s evolution to its current form, which brings together comics, animation, illustration, and gaming. The documentary thus reconstructs the transformations of Lucca Comics & Games and its audience, relating them to shifts in Italian and international cultural imagination and to the evolution of the publishing and entertainment industries. 60 Times Lucca: The historical adventure of Lucca Comics & Games will air on Rai 5 on Tuesday, October 27, in the late evening, on the eve of the opening of the 2026 edition. It will then be available on RaiPlay.
To mark its 60th anniversary, Lucca Comics & Games is complementing this retrospective of its own history with a series of in-depth explorations dedicated to the languages of comics and games, ranging from works that have shaped international popular culture to contemporary productions. The exhibitions are spread across the city’s historic buildings and help shape the program for an edition that looks back at the event’s past and toward its future evolution.
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| Lucca Comics & Games 2026 Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary: What's New, Exhibits, and Guests You Won't Want to Miss |
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