In the year 1471, Italian printers became truly their own masters. Before then, printing work was carried out by about 100 German typographers living in Italian cities. History, however, wasn't so sure who was Italy's first native printer: Clement of Padua or de Lignamine of Rome. One thing is certain, though: both managed to learn the craft despite the Germans' efforts to keep their trade secrets under wrap.
Interestingly, it was ecclesiastical blessings that gave the trade a much-needed boost in this boot-shaped country. Its first press was, in fact, established in the Benedictine monastery of St. Scholastica in Subiaco, about 50 miles east of Rome. There, under the patronage of German cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, four books were produced between 1465 and 1567. The first of the incunabula (or incunables, as books printed before 1501 were called) was Cicero's De oratore. The spread of printing coincided with the Renaissance, during which an abundance of writers and scholars fed the presses with the raw material that was crucial to the growth and development of the trade. From Subiaco and Rome, printing soon reached Venice, and the city went on to dominate the Italian (and even the European) printing scene for quite a while. At one point, Venice accounted for more then half of the 12,000 editions produced in Italy. The most famous Venetian printer was none other than Aldus Manutius, whose face graced earlier versions of PageMaker before it came under Adobe.
Now, more than five centuries after the first appearance of Gutenberg's invention in Subiaco, Italy has become synonymous with high-end printing. While the onslaught from Asian print manufacturers and the flighty euro, needless to say, have hit exports, the Italian qualità—closely associated with brands such as Prada, Gucci, Armani, Ferrari and Pirelli—is holding its own. Rare is the high-end art/photography book publisher, catalogue publisher or museum that doesn't have Italian printers on its favorite supplier list. Companies such as Fratelli Spada, Vianello, Stige, Conti Tipocolor, Damiani and most of those reviewed in this article are high on that list.
In recent years, these exporters, mostly family-owned entities, have reorganized themselves for greater efficiency and are busy innovating in response to industry changes. By investing heavily in new technologies and answering the call for eco-friendly practices, they have found plenty of favor with publishers from its European neighbors as well as those from North America. For some, the answer to the shrinking marketplace comes in the form of an in-house publishing division that simultaneously showcases their printing prowess while creating a new revenue center. Italy's rich history and culture naturally provide these newly minted publishers plenty of fodder: Leonardo da Vinci, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc., etc.
Here's the bottom line: products requiring mass production, those incorporating handwork elements and those that are not time-sensitive won't be budging from Asia anytime soon. But those demanding quick turnaround—exhibition catalogues, movie tie-ins and such—and high-end titles with lower print runs will continue to head for Italy. With more than five centuries to hone their skills, the quality and expertise of these printers are never in doubt. Savvy publishers and print buyers know that a reliable manufacturing source (aside from Asia) is crucial to minimizing production upsets. Indeed, for a long time, Italy has been that source and, looking at the present scenario, it is not about to relinquish its hold.
Amilcare Pizzi
At 93-year-old Amilcare Pizzi, printing is a family affair and European and North American high-end art/photography books are its core business. The company is known for its expertise in this category, evident in the publications that managing director Massimo Pizzi shows PW. “Take Rizzoli International's Ralph Lauren, which commemorates the fashion house's 40th anniversary. The main challenge is to satisfy a very demanding client who makes quality and style a marketing tool for achieving worldwide success. So the book has to reflect the same philosophy on quality as well. For us, getting the artwork and color separation right was the hardest part.”
Then there are the extra-large books—in scope and size—such as Taschen's Leonardo da Vinci: Complete Paintings and Drawings, which required metallic color printing and special binding. “The complexity of this job speaks for itself: there is no production shortcut, only precise high-quality prepress and printing to showcase this great artist's works,” says Pizzi. Same goes for Icons from Sinai, a special Getty Museum publication. “With Icons, we see publishers' current practice at work, which is to place more conservative orders but do frequent reprints. On average, print runs have decreased from 20,000—25,000 copies to 8,000—10,000 in recent years.”
Naturally, Pizzi has established a production facility that is highly flexible to accommodate such short-run high-end orders. Its five sheetfed presses (one 4-color and three 5-color KBA as well as one 6-color Mitsubishi) are supported by two small-format web presses (4- and 5-color KBA with a maximum width of 100 cm) and two larger ones, with maximum widths of 145 cm and 190.5 cm (KBA Compacta 618 and MAN Roland Lithoman IV, respectively). Over on the prepress side, its Agfa Apogee workflow is complemented by three CtP systems (one Krause LaserStar and two Agfa Xcalibur), a DuPont EuroChromalin proofer, an Agfa Sherpa plotter and QMS Minolta digital printers. “This set-up allows us to offer clients in-house color separation services and supply whatever type of proofs the client may require: digital, ozalid or Chromalin. We also have a proofing press that accepts plates from both conventional/film and digital workflows and produces wet proofs,” adds Pizzi, whose export sales hover between 30% and 35%. “It's no longer as high as it was back in the 1980s and 1990s, but our long-term strategies have worked well in sustaining our export segment.”
One of the strategies is to push its own products—art exhibition catalogues—through associate company Silvana Editoriale. Adds Pizzi, “We also take on projects commissioned by corporate clients—public authorities or private companies. Between Silvana and Pizzi, we provide the full range of services, from conceptualization/design to printing and distribution of the finished product. Silvana did about 220 titles last year. At the same time, we are going after time-sensitive export titles and exploring other opportunities beyond the book-making area.”
Graphicom
A comparatively young company, Graphicom started as a print broker in 1986. A decade later, it acquired a bindery (which was renamed Legatoria Camisana) and, another two years later, an established high-end printing company ArteGrafica. It now employs 120 people: 25 at its main office in Vicenza, 45 at its bindery located nearby and another 50 at its printing facility 30 minutes' drive away in Verona. Approximately 85% of its business is book-related, and 10% of that comes from American clients such as Aperture, Guggenheim Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Paul J. Getty Museum, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, Visionaire, Monacelli and Random House. The average print order is about 10,000 copies. “But we also take on short runs—about 1,000 copies—of titles requiring high-end manual binding, as well as trade titles such as cookbooks by Jamie Oliver that hit 500,000 copies,” says managing director Antonio Zanella.
There are interesting and challenging projects aplenty; The Apollo Prophecies is one recent example. “This 260-lpi tritone product with tinted varnish is essentially a six-meter-long concertina, with a single image printed on the front and back. After assembly and hand-casing, the 4,600 copies printed were inserted into laser die-cut slipcases together with a booklet and CD. We also printed the special edition, which features a lenticular panel and deluxe clamshell packaging. Processing the images and binding the concertina were the two biggest challenges,” Zanella recalls. Another notable project is the 8,000-copy Skin + Bones catalogue for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. While the interior is “normal” (i.e., requiring high-end printing), the jacket is something else. Zanella says, “It is covered with some 6,000 2-mm holes to produce a 3-D effect. For reinforcement, the reverse side of the jacket was laminated after laser die-cutting. The choice of jacket material was critical: tests were conducted to make sure the material was strong—yet not unwieldy—and could withstand the laser die-cutting process without burning.”
Operations-wise, a new 6-color KBA press with inline acrylic vanishing is to be installed in the first quarter of 2008; a larger-format 7B press has also been commissioned for 2009. Last year, a new paperback line and a second CtP system were brought in. “Our workflow is 100% digital, but we do take on analog projects,” says Zanella. “The GMG color management system was implemented a while back, and we usually supply Epson digital proofs to clients. We also supply wet proofs upon request. On the printing side, we recently switched to vegetable-based inks for obvious environmental reasons.” Newly FSC-certified Graphicom already has numerous titles in the pipeline that will use FSC paper. Finished goods are usually trucked to the U.K. (which takes two days) or shipped to the U.S. from Genova or Livorno (which takes four to five weeks, depending on the final destination).
LEGO Group
At 1,000-strong LEGO (Legatoria Editoriale Giovanni Olivotto), about 63% of the 60 million copies of hardbacks it produced in 2006—half in full-color—were for export. Headquartered in Vicenza, this 108-year-old company—with the fifth generation of Olivottos within its ranks—rings up annual sales averaging 160 million euros. Its six plants have their own specialization: Lego (predominantly in full-color hardbacks), Legoprint (Bibles and one- and two-color products), Eurografica (paperbacks), Calderini (web printing of commercial products and magazines), CartoZane (slipcases and die-cut products) and SkinPlast (plastic cover material). On the nonconventional printing side, CEO Giulio Olivotto recently purchased an iGen3 to boost the group's digital printing/print-on-demand services: “This division at Legoprint mostly caters to monochrome short runs from 50 to 1,000 copies for the domestic market. For a 500-copy order of a 320-page A5-size title, for instance, we can print, bind and dispatch within four hours upon receiving the approved files.”
LEGO's production expertise is clearly evident in one recent diary project. “This 475,000-copy order seemed simple: two-color printing on 70-gsm uncoated paper. But there were eight different versions with 63 different cover colors and polyurethane textures. The different sizes, colors, book block characteristics and various types of stamping combined gave us more than 700 variations!” Such complex requirements, says Olivotto, are also found in Bible printing, which he does for American publishers. “Often, the publisher would produce a smaller quantity of 1,000 to 5,000 copies of a deluxe version that has the same content but is embellished with special finishing, such as full-leather binding with raised hubs, bookmarks, gilded edges or fancy cloth covers. At LEGO, we note our clients' desires and, if necessary, propose alternative materials to help them achieve their goal, be it aesthetic, marketing or cost.”
And responding to needs was how LEGO came to develop the world's fastest casing machine for thin books. “Back in 1975, casing machines were not efficient for book blocks under 4 mm, but demand for such products was increasing. It triggered our search for an affordable process that provides a good square spine and square hinges, and it eventually led to the LEGO thin book line,” says Olivotto, who is now busy planning considerable investment in installing solar cells for the new combined Lego/Eurografica plant, due for completion in 2011.
LEGO's paper product manufacturing facilities are FSC-certified, and all its six plants are designed to be energy-efficient. One of its green initiatives is to trap paper dust with filters and turn it into pellets to be sold to paper mills. In total, the group recycles some 18,000 tons of wastepaper per year. “The only combustible used for heating comes from nonreturnable pallets—not oil or gas. And to control the smoke produced by the burners, we implemented more stringent regulations than legally required to make sure we're as green as possible.”
Mondadori Printing
Part of the century-old Milan-listed Arnoldo Mondadori Publishing Group (whose annual turnover averages two billion euros), Mondadori Printing is the largest printer in town, with four plants in Verona, Cles, Melzo and Pomezia. Approximately 20% of its 2006 sales of 448 million euros came from export activities. Product-wise, it's 30% books; the rest is magazines and catalogues.
“Illustrated books have always been our major export area,” says CEO Alberto De Matthaeis. “We achieve this through two channels. The first is via our publishing division, which sells co-edition rights to illustrated books, primarily in the Mondadori and Electa imprints, at the same time offering our printing services to these partners. The second is through our printing facilities, which were originally established to print in-house publications but now have the capability, capacity and services to meet the demands of book publishers accustomed to Italian quality printing.” Naturally, glossy high-end publications from the who's who in this segment fill its showroom: co-editions of National Geographic titles and large-format photography books such as Yann Layma's China (Abrams) are prominent examples.
De Matthaeis, who joined Mondadori in 2002, set his initial focus on technological issues: “We first made sure we were in sync with customer demands and industry developments. Then we moved to the people aspect of the operation.” Investment in the latest manufacturing technologies and staff training at all four plants (plus one in Toledo, Spain) has been ongoing. “In the last 10 years, we have invested more than 20 million euros annually to ensure our capabilities and services meet—and they often exceed—client demands.”
Presently, its sheetfed printing division can handle print runs from 1,000 to 100,000 copies, and 5-color presses representing the best of KBA Rapida, Komori and Heidelberg dominate its production floor. “Over at our web press side, printing is mostly done on 5- or 4-color KBA Compacta, as well as on two Timson and three Cameron presses for black-and-white products. We use the latter to produce one-color reference titles for the American market,” adds De Matthaeis. “Our printing activities are supported by five Creo CtP systems and a complete postpress lineup covering automatic folding, gathering, wire-o, thread sewing, casing and perfect binding. There is also a fully automatic packing line to minimize project turnaround time.”
The strong Asian presence in the print manufacturing industry, De Matthaeis notes, “has changed the illustrated book printing landscape, and we have successfully adapted to this shift. Our current focus lies in high-end printing with short lead time. We also turn to the latest technology, say, 6-color presses with in-line UV varnishing, to speed up production. Figures from recent years have shown that we are on the right track. In the meantime, we have built strong partnerships with many European and American publishers in the museum, reference and trade book segments.”
Printer Trento
This company makes preserving its tranquil surroundings near the Dolomites a top concern, and does so by adopting eco-friendly practices and solvent-free manufacturing. Says CEO Dario Martinelli, who founded the company in 1980, “We have a massive recycling program that spares no waste products, including printing plates, and we endeavor to be as energy-efficient as possible by implementing better control systems and management reporting. We use only vegetable-based inks in our production process and we deliver finished goods to our European customers by rail whenever possible.”
Last September, Printer Trento was FSC-certified—making it the first Italian printer to do so—and three months later it also became a SEDEX (Suppliers Ethical Data Exchange) registered member. By the time you read this, its operations will be fully CIP4 compliant and its ISO 14000 certification process near completion. “Quality is crucial, since our products are 100% full-color and high-end. Our customers expect the best service and very fast turnaround, as some of these products are TV tie-ins and exhibition catalogues,” says marketing manager Susanna Geier, whose team also produces maps and atlases for the trade and library segments. “To maintain a solvent-free environment basically requires a fully digital workflow—we work mostly with InDesign and Quark 7 files or PDF—supported by two Creo CtP systems.”
For British and German clients, remote proofing is an option available through its Prinergy Synapse Insite workflow, along with real-time file access. “However, the technology for checking color remotely is not dependable as yet, but it will become more so in the future when a universal standard for rendering color accurately onscreen is available,” adds Geier. Presently, it is depending on a Creo Veris system for digital proofing.
Over on its production floor, populated by 6-, 5- and 4-color KBAs, the newly installed 5-color press has already proven to be 20% more efficient than the previous model. “Our digital printing division has afforded us the ability to compete in short runs demanded by academic and medical publishers,” adds Martinelli. “Using the same digital file, we can now go either sheetfed or digital. We are also capable of printing high-end professional titles on demand and even personalizing individual copies. Overall, the current crop of digital printing technologies has opened up new options for publishers, and we hope the quality continues to improve until lithographic and digital outputs are totally indistinguishable.”
Trend-wise, Geier is seeing brighter colors, shorter runs and frequent reprints. “The use of metallic inks, recycled paper, special foil blocking and special effects on cloth is prevalent. We're also receiving more requests for direct delivery to bookstores and personalization on covers for small runs. New binding techniques such as skip binding are also becoming popular. The bottom line is, whatever our clients demand, Printer Trento will deliver.”
STCC
(stcc.it)
Founded in 1880, STCC (Stabilimenti Tipografici Carlo Colombo) is a member of a worldwide network that provides B2B printing and logistics services for product documentation as well as training and marketing materials. Approximately 70% of its sales come from print-on-demand (POD) activities. STCC also participates in Xplor, an electronic document systems association whose members include IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, Océ and Pitney Bowes.
With the global POD business expected to grow 30% between 2005 and 2010, to 52 million pages annually, it's easy to understand the rationale behind managing director Giovanni Battista Colombo's decision to designate one of his two production facilities—both in Rome—for POD services. “Falling offset print runs coupled with POD's potential make a very strong case for the conversion,” says Colombo, who is also president of the Digital Printing Association. “But realizing its potential doesn't happen overnight. We started offering POD services in 2001 but reached full integration in the global B2B network only in 2006.” During that period, STCC obtained ISO 9001 and 14001 certification and became the first Italian company to be certified by the Business Software Alliance.
Currently, about 90% of STCC's POD products head for EU countries. “We do a lot of training materials and these are very challenging,” says marketing manager Edoardo Morso. “Fast turnaround aside, timing is critical: we need to make sure the materials are where they are supposed to be when class starts. The constant updating of training materials presents another challenge. For this reason alone, we have a precise and highly automated workflow that makes sure the latest version of materials is used. Our POD activities are entirely Web based so as to provide direct connections between all points of contact.” Presently, its POD projects are all in black-and-white and only 10% are books. “There is much potential in the self-publishing segment, which would fit POD nicely. However, a mindset change is necessary before authors or small independent publishers take the POD route.”
STCC installed its first Océ 8088 in 1997 and the acquisition was soon followed by the 8090 model a year later. It has since added two more Océ machines, both Variostream, which can churn out 1,200 pages per minute. These are supported by another Océ (CPS 650) and two Kodak machines (E125 and E120). “Our second facility does offset printing—mostly for the domestic market—and is networked to our POD facility, both equipped with extensive finishing lines. This gives our customers the option of going for either offset printing or POD. Naturally, we also offer kitting and assembly services for boxes, CD vinyl sleeves, jewel cases, etc.,” adds Colombo. Interestingly, STCC is also into Braille printing. “Finding appropriate software to convert letters into Braille characters is crucial to this service. Given the new law requiring the provision of materials for people with learning disabilities, there is great potential in this category in the near future.”
