Il Sole 24 Ore - Domeniche d'estate
“Domenica d’estate” (Summer Sunday) is a weekly illustrated summer feature in “Domenica,” the cultural supplement of Il Sole 24 Ore.
Each year, this column aims to accompany readers through the summer with themed stories.
For summer 2025, I had the pleasure of illustrating Summer Sundays for 16 consecutive weeks, illustrating texts about art and museums through images.
But not well-known or mainstream museums, but rather the most unusual, out-of-the-ordinary, and unique.
Below I’ll revisit this illustrated journey through the most curious and hidden collections: have a good trip!
AD Madda Paternoster
June 22 - Atelier Canonica (Rome)
For the first installment of “Domenica d’estate”, I illustrated an article by Elisabetta Rasy about the Atelier Canonica, a little-known museum in Rome located in the beautiful Villa Borghese park.
The protagonists of the story and my illustration are the two statues at the museum’s entrance, representing an Alpine soldier and a mule, which the author often visited with her grandmother.
Digital version of the article here.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
June 27 - Archaeological Museum of Aquileia
In the second installment of “Domenica d’estate”, journalist Maria Luisa Colledani discusses the Archaeological Museum of Aquileia (Udine), one of the most important archaeological sites in northern Italy.
The museum houses numerous Roman-era objects, which it uses to tell the stories of the protagonists of those times, in a plot that reads like an elaborate novel.
“Some of the most iconic objects of the collection suggestively narrate the millenary history of Aquileia, from the time preceding its foundation to the events that made it widely known during the Roman Empire. “
Digital version of the article here.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
July 6 - SMO (slovensko multimedialno okno)
The third illustrated appointment with “Domenica d’estate” takes place at the Landscape and Narrative Museum (SMO) in San Pietro al Natisone (Udine) and is narrated by journalist and writer Cristina Battocletti.
It is a multimedia and interactive museum that, through screens and installations, tells the history and folklore of the valleys, from the Julian Alps to the sea, from Mangart to the Gulf of Trieste.
In this space, where artistic experimentation and the dimension of memory intertwine, you can meet unique characters such as the “krivapete”, magical women with green hair and backwards feet, and the most peculiar masks that color the carnivals of the valleys.
The SMO museum in Špetr ranks among the new forms of thematic and regional museums that no longer rely on collecting objects, but on narratives.
Digital version of the article here.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
July 13 - Hunterian Museum (London)
The fourth issue of “Domenica d’estate” takes place in London, at the Hunterian Museum, at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
It includes the display of over 2,000 anatomical preparations from Hunter’s original collection, alongside instruments, equipment, models, paintings and archive material, which trace the history of surgery from ancient times to the latest robot-assisted operations.
The Museum includes England’s largest public display of human anatomy.
Inspired by Martina Mazzotta‘s text, which traces an introspective journey through collections of anatomical plates and Arte Povera, I imagined an illustration that condenses the visual power of the “Evelyn” tables, with the existential reflections of Giuseppe Penone, on display at the Serpentine Galleries nearby.
A reflection on humanity, the environment, their relationship, and their mutual transformations and influences.
Digital version of the article here.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
July 20 - Typewriter Museum (Trani)
For the fifth issue of “Domenica d’estate” we travel to Trani (Puglia), to the Typewriter Museum, located just a few meters from the sea and the Duomo.
The Museum houses the most surprising testimonies to the international history of mechanical writing.
The encounter between the typewriter and the cathedral is the protagonist of my illustration, inspired by the story by Giuseppe Lupo, who compares the refined aesthetics of the machines on display to that of Baroque basilicas and altars.
Digital version of the article here.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
July 27 - The Shit Museum
Among the most unexpected and unusual museums featured on “Domenica d’estate”, this one is probably the most out of the ordinary!
The “Museo della Merda”/Museum of Shit is located inside Castelbosco, a medieval castle in the province of Piacenza.
Its identity, starting with its openly provocative name, is linked to the desire to give value to the material that is considered the lowest and most vulgar.
And, indeed, the museum hosts art: from the most ancient historical artifacts to contemporary art and design, all with the common denominator of dung. And sustainability, given that the museum’s spirit is to inspire reflection on the reuse and valorization of natural resources.
Definitely a museum like no other!
Text by Francesca Barbiero.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
August 3 - Love Letter Museum
For the seventh issue of Domenica d’estate, my illustration is about one of the most romantic museums in Italy!
The Love Letter Museum (Museo della lettera d’amore) is located in Abruzzo, in the village of Torrevecchia Teatina, between the sea and the mountains.
There, inside an 18th-century palace, you can find a unique collection of over ten thousand love letters, some of considerable historical and cultural interest.
My illustration is inspired by a passage from the beautiful text by The writer Barbara Alberti:
“the museum of love letters, hanging on the wall like butterflies resting for an instant, letters and love letters, consultable… You pick one up and enter into inconsolable torment or a small eternity.”
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
August 10 - Brera Astronomical Observatory
By a fortunate coincidence, the eighth issue of Domenica d’estate came out exactly on August 10th, coinciding with the night of San Lorenzo, one of Italy’s most popular summer traditions when Italians gaze at the night sky to try and see a shooting star.
And on this day what’s better than a star-themed illustration?
The Brera Astronomical Observatory museum in Milan is the same observatory where in 1877 the astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli observed the planet Mars in unprecedented detail, describing the famous “canals” that would later give rise to hypotheses, controversies, speculation, and folklore about the possibility that the red planet was inhabited by Martians!
My illustration, which accompanies the text by astrophysicist Patrizia Caraveo, is dedicated to him and his passion for the stars.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
August 17 - Palazzo Arezzo di Donnafugata
This illustration of mine for the nineth issue of “Domenica d’estate” has two main characters:
The first is a painting, a Saint Paul the Hermit by Jusepe de Ribera, better known as “Lo Spagnoletto,” an important 17th-century painter active in Italy from 1611 onwards.
The second is one of the most famous and influential art critics in Italy: Vittorio Sgarbi.
Their meeting was marked by a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary event, masterfully told in Costanza Di Quattro‘s article and set in the wonderful Palazzo Arezzo di Donnafugata in Ibla (Ragusa).
My illustration represents the key moment of the story: Sgarbi, faced with Ribera’s work, takes off his shoes and walks decisively toward the eighteenth-century sofa above which the painting hangs.
In a moment the famous critic climbs onto the sofa and examines the canvas, and then he spits on it!
Not out of disdain, but to remove the dirt covering the artist’s signature!
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
August 24 - Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature
For the tenth issue of “Domenica d’estate” I had the pleasure of illustrate one of my all-time favorite topics: animals!
The “Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature” is located in the center of Paris: literally “museum of hunting and nature,” it houses a wealth of artifacts on the theme of nature and animals, from antiquity to the present day.
In fact, alongside paintings, statues, tools, and taxidermy, there are modern and contemporary works of art, organized into themed rooms.
There’s a room for wild boars, one for wolves, one for deer, and finally, one for dogs, the one that inspired me the most and to which my illustration is dedicated.
The text is by the publisher Teresa Cremisi.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
August 31 - Amedeo Lia Museum
The eleventh issue of “Domenica d’estate” takes us to La Spezia, a famous destination on the Ligurian Riviera, where Alessandro Zaccuri‘s article introduces us to the Amedeo Lia Museum.
Named after its founder, a naval officer and engineer, the museum houses the private collection that Lia amassed over a lifetime of collecting.
The exhibition focuses primarily on a vast collection of 13th, 14th, and 15th-century plates, considered among the most important in Europe.
My illustration combines art and navigation, two seemingly disjointed parts of Engineer Lia’s life but found their union in this museum.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
September 7 - M.O.R. Museum of Rackets
The twelfth issue of “Summer Sunday” came out on the day of the 2025 US Open final. Which was very fitting, considering it was about tennis!
The Museum of Rackets lies in Baldissero d’Alba (Cuneo). Over 1,400 tennis rackets collected by stringer and enthusiast Paolo Bertolino are kept in this place, which presents itself as holy ground for tennis players.
A place where you can relive the history of this magical sport racket by racket, from the first wooden models to the latest carbon fiber innovations.
My illustration, which accompanies Eliana Di Caro‘s article, aims to evoke precisely this emotion, that of entering this fascinating forest of rackets, like in a painting by Caspar David Friedrich.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
September 14 - Ethnographic Museum (Oleggio)
In the thirteenth issue of “Domenica d’estate” the journalist Corrado Beldì guides us through his hometown of Oleggio (Novara), to the Fanchini Ethnographic Museum: a place where time seems to have stood still within the themed rooms of the 17th-century building that houses it.
Here, countless objects from the past are preserved, placed in their reconstructed natural contexts: the butcher’s shop, the tavern, the bakery, the schoolroom, and much more.
My illustration represents this collection and its role in the formation and preservation of identity, both collective and individual.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
September 21 - Museum of Hat Art (Ghiffa)
In the fourteenth issue of “Domenica d’estate” we’re in Ghiffa, on Lake Maggiore, home to the “Museum of the Art of Hat-Making.”
Here the philosopher and essayist Francesca Rigotti tells us about the museum, which overlooks the lakeshore and is located in the buildings that once housed the world famous Panizza hat factory.
It displays artifacts collected over a century of activity, which began in 1881. Hats, of course, but also the machinery and tools used to make them, as well as advertising posters and much more!
My illustration takes inspiration from the aesthetics of old advertising posters to showcase the museum and its inseparable connection with the lake.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
Sep. 28 - The Living Museum of the Ju/'Hoansi-San
My illustration for the fifteenth issue of “Domenica d’estate” focuses on a truly unique type of museum: “living museums,” which, between Namibia and Botswana, preserve the oldest memory of the human species.
The Living Museum of the Ju/’Hoansi-San is an authentic open-air museum where guests can learn a lot about the traditional culture and the original way of living of the San, one of Africa’s oldest populations and creators of splendid rock carvings.
Traditions and ways of life passed down through countless generations are still cultivated today by what anthropologist James Suzman called “the most successful civilization”: a simple yet effective lifestyle that has needed no updating in the last 10,000 years.
In my illustration accompanying the article by Lara Ricci, I connected the hunting aspect, a cornerstone of San culture, with the equally central narrative aspect.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
October 5 - Imaginary Museums
In the sixteenth and final installment of “Summer Sunday,” the protagonist is not a specific, concrete museum.
Rather, the subject is the “imaginary museum“: the one that is created in our minds when we imagine or remember works of art we’ve seen or read about.
A gallery as wide and deep as our thoughts, where we can lose and find ourselves again at will.
This imaginary museum also introduces a reflection on how museums are narrated in literature and the importance of this narrative.
The author of the article, which brings this summer series to a close, is Carlo Ossola, a renowned philologist and literary critic.
Making of
These are the concepts that I proposed to the editorial staff.
Below are some of the main steps that led from the concept to the final illustration.
