The noble dandy of editorial art. The life and works of Franco Maria Ricci
His publishing acumen was of international stature, he invented the most beautiful magazine in the world (this is not a slogan, it is a reality) he relaunched the cult of graphics with his intense passion of Bodonian characters and was one of the very few contemporary creators of labyrinths, a patron of finesse, and a man of intense elegance. He dressed in an aristocratic style and with the originality of a dandy. Franco Maria Ricci was born in 1937 in the sumptuous, ducal province of Parma.
He could have chosen a simple path leading him to the life of a wealthy young man in the petite capital, among fine gastronomy, beautiful girls and regal memories, yet he devoted to graphic art and publishing. He began his career path by studying the works of Giambattista Bodoni, a typographer who had invented the graphic typeface that bears his name «Parma». The Manuale Tipografico, reprinted by Ricci in the early sixties, a century and a half after its first publication became an unpredictable publishing success. Later, he created The Library of Babel, a series entrusted to the curatorship of Jorge Luis Borges and composed of volumes of noble finesse.
He reprinted the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d’Alembert, until he discovered, publishing it with the introduction of Italo Calvino, the incredible Codex Seraphinianus, bizarre fantasy encyclopedia written in an invented language, with tables of impossible metamorphoses and living beings and inventions that were not even in existence. It was a great success. In 1982 he began to publish the periodical FMR, worshipped by collectors, with editions in English, French and Spanish. A handful of curious and non-conformist intellectuals collaborated with him, including Vittorio Sgarbi, Giovanni Mariotti and Massimo Listri. FMR published writings by Sciascia, Calvino, Barthes, Manganelli, Gore Vidal, André Chastel. It discovered, in the launching or reviving a world that was attracted only by novelties, Ligabue, Erté, Domenico Gnoli. Several years ago, I had the good fortune to go to his house in Milan, a grand townhouse furnished in a neoclassical style, filled with artistic treasures. I remember the beauty of the perturbing busts of Adolfo Wildt, which can now be admired at the Labirinto della Masone.
The bust of the Ancient Man alone is worth the trip to this amazing neoclassical citadel set in the middle of the Po Valley, a true «lay Enlightenment sanctuary» (Sgarbi’s definition), labyrinth, chapel, library, museum. The fact is that Ricci, not satisfied with his editorial activity, had chosen to realize his umpteenth dream, which was to build a labyrinth (Borgesian) and an art gallery that would house his collections. In order to finance the project, he sold FMR in 2004 and threw himself into the new botanical venture. He was no longer a young man and knew that boxwood, which is traditionally the plant of labyrinths, had a slow growth, so he studied the problem and opted for bamboo. It grows faster and what’s more, its leaves rustle in the wind, adding sonic disorientation to the bewilderment of those lost in the maze’s swirls. Today, among bamboo barriers, precious books, paintings, sculptures, narwhal teeth, in one room there is even his Diabolik car on display, a Jaguar E, an essential part of what Sgarbi called «Franco Maria Ricci’s dandy iconosphere». In recent years, he longed to regain possession of his own name, namely the FMR brand. Franco Maria Ricci unfortunately passed away in September 2020 and could not witness the realization of his dream and see the return of the FMR publishing brand. However last month his wife, Laura Casalis announced the agreement had been reached. New publications are planned, leading us to say that Franco Maria Ricci was, or rather is.