Il Male, one of the most important Italian satirical magazines ever, is on display in Rome

The exhibition Gli anni del Male 1978-1982 (The Years of Evil 1978-1982 ), which, from October 25, 2019 to January 6, 2020, traces the five-year lifespan of one of the most important phenomena of postwar Italian satire, has opened at the WeGil space in Rome . The exhibition, promoted by the Lazio Region and organized by Manafilm srl in collaboration with LAZIOcrea, curated by Angelo Pasquini, Mario Canale, Giovanna Caronia and Carlo Zaccagnini in collaboration with Vincino Gallo, is open to the public from Oct. 26, 2019 to Jan. 6, 2020. The exhibition obtained the patronage of the National Federation of the Italian Press and was produced in collaboration with Rai Teche, Luce Cinecittà and Radio Radicale.

Il Male was the quintessential paper newspaper: colorful, disassembled and reassembled according to the uses that were suggested to readers and newsboys (the most famous was the metamorphosis into another newspaper whose masthead was falsified). A newspaper for display, which newsagents hung on newsstands and which readers put on display to make friends fall into the trap of the fake event concocted by the editors. A newspaper made by an extraordinary group of authors: from Andrea Pazienza to Vincino, from Sergio Angese to Roberto Perini, from Jacopo Fo to Tanino Liberatore, from Stefano Tamburini to Carlo Cagni, from Enzo Sferra to Filippo Scozzari, from Jiga Melik to Piero Lo Sardo, from Sergio Saviane to Vincenzo Sparagna, from Giuliano Rossetti to Alain Denis, Francesco Cascioli and Bruno D’Alfonso.

The satirical periodical was also the mirror of an extraordinary era forItaly, an era of great creativity but at the same time of terrible events that marked the satirical work of the newspaper: the Years of Lead between the R.B. and the Moro murder, black terrorism, bombings, state murders, the Pecorelli crime, the Mafia, Andreotti, Sindona, Ambrosoli and P2.

The exhibition’s itinerary begins with giant photographs of “fakes,” true forerunners of today’s fake news. Faithfully reproducing the graphics of the best-known newspapers of the time, the authors of Il Male intervened on political and social current events, in a dizzying reversal of reality, with high-sounding headlines and provocative texts. Those desecrating forgeries, along with equally scandalous drawings for the time, made the newspaper famous, but also caused denunciations and trials: Il Male was perhaps the most denounced and seized periodical since the postwar period.

The exhibition also recounts Il Male ’s famous happenings through photos, archive videos and the display of the “bust of Andreotti,” executed in marble by a skilled craftsman based on a design by Angese and Vincino. A number of colossal auteur caricatures introduce a long overview of the main themes on which Il Male’s corrosive satire was exercised, from politics to religion to sex. A rich collection of original drawings is also housed in this section. Finally, a reproduction of the editorial office brings to life the living atmosphere of the newspaper, as if a lively meeting had just ended, amid typewriters, crumpled papers, markers, brimming ashtrays and pieces of pizza, and the last person to leave had just turned out the light.

For all information you can visit the official website of the WeGil space.

Il Male, one of the most important Italian satirical magazines ever, is on display in Rome

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