Fratelli Fabbri Editori is an Italian publishing house founded in 1947 by the brothers Giovanni, Dino and Ettore 'Rino' Fabbri. Today Fabbri forms part of

Rizzoli Libri Rizzoli Libri, formerly Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. and RCS Libri S.p.A. is an Italian book publisher and a division of Mondadori Libri, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. RCS Libri was a former subsidiary of RCS MediaGroup, but in ...

, which in turn is 100% controlled by

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In ...

Origins

Coming from a family of small bourgeois merchants Forlivesi, the brothers Fabbri started with little more than a love for art and culture inherited from their father Ottavio Fabbri. The eldest, Giovanni, after graduating from medical school, joined the partisans of the

Val d'Ossola The Ossola (, also Valle Ossola or Val d’Ossola) is an area of Italy situated to the north of Lago Maggiore. It lies within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its principal river is the Toce, and its most important town Domodossola. ...

. After the war, preferring books to medicine, he became an editor, and involved his brothers. The Fratelli Fabbri Editori found immediate success printing text books for schools and, later, became the leading publisher in this area. They took a leap in the quality of printing to publish regular, large classical works such as the ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

'' and the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

. The approval of the public encouraged them, and at the end of the 1950s remain in the history of publishing with works such as ''Masterpieces in the Centuries'' and, particularly, ''The Masters of Color'' (I Maestri del Colore).

1960s

In the 1960s Fratelli Fabbri Editori published ', an illustrated encyclopedia for children that entered the homes of millions of Italians. The encyclopedia was sold in bound volumes, with payment by installments. During those years, the publishing house sold approximately a billion and a half books, published in dozens of countries with translations into 14 languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Afrikaans, Turkish and Bulgarian. They were also the first Italian publisher to market multimedia products; producing the new series ''The Stories of Sound'' and ''The History of Music'', which combines a book and record, addressing issues unknown at the time. For example, for ''The History of Music'' in order to fall within the standard packaging industry, they commissioned

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in ...

to produce 10 million of a special LP with a diameter of 20 centimeters. Towards the end of the 1960s, due to the saturation of the market and social unrest, the brothers Dino and Rino sold their shares to engage in other activities abroad, thwarted by the refusal of the elder brother.

1970s

In 1971 the Istituto Finanziario Industriale (IFI; predecessor of

Exor Exor N.V. is a Dutch holding company incorporated in Netherlands and controlled by the Agnelli family through privately held company ''Giovanni Agnelli B.V.'' In 2021 it recorded revenues of more than $136 billion, with a Net Asset Value (NAV) of ...

) purchased 53% of the shares of Fabbri Editori on behalf of the

Agnelli family The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty founded by Giovanni Agnelli, one of the original founders of the Fiat motor company which became Italy's largest automobile manufacturer. They are also primarily known for other ...

from Bertelsmann. Dino and Rino relocated abroad, but Giovanni remained on as chairman; the operational role was entrusted to Piero Stucchi Prinetti, acting as managing director. Towards the end of the 1970s Giovanni Fabbri became a target of the

Red Brigades The Red Brigades ( it, Brigate Rosse , often abbreviated BR) was a far-left Marxist–Leninist armed organization operating as a terrorist and guerrilla group based in Italy responsible for numerous violent incidents, including the abduction ...

and decided to move to

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, Switzerland, where he resides today. Rino Fabbri chose Paraguay. Dino Fabbri died following a long illness of ALS (

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

) on 10 December 2001 at his home in Aventura, Florida. Ettore Rino Fabbri died in

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay o ...

, November 2012.

1980s and today

Fabbri Editori was part of Gruppo Rizzoli Corriere della Sera (now

RCS MediaGroup RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. (formerly Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera), based in Milan and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, is an international multimedia publishing group that operates in daily newspapers, magazines and books, radio broadcasting, n ...

) and continues to publish textbooks and publications. RCS' book businesses, including Fabbri, were acquired

in 2016. With the spread of home-video (especially with the arrival of the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

) Fabbri concluded agreements that allow it to distribute through the network of kiosks a series of monographs on actors (such as the series of films of

007 The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

) and collections of the movies of

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, director and screenwriter. Early life Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician and the last of five children, Sordi was named in hon ...

and Gilberto Govi, directors and genres of film.

References

"Italy: Installment Culture"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'', 7 February 1964. * Scuola di editoria
'Fabbri'
''L'editoria in Italia dal '900 ad oggi'', Associazione Formazione Giovanni Piamarta, 2008. * Righetti Donata
'Dino Fabbri, il D'Artagnan dell'editoria che portò i classici in edicola'
''Corriere della Sera'', 12 December 2001.

External links

* {{Authority control Publishing companies of Italy Book publishing companies of Italy Companies based in Milan Publishing companies established in 1947 Italian companies established in 1947 RCS MediaGroup