“A century ago,” begins Antonio Romano, “Giovanni Treccani and Giovanni Gentile brought together the brightest minds of the time to create a ‘national’ identity, expressed through the unity of Italian cultural heritage.”
The first edition of the Treccani Encyclopedia was published in 1929 and completed in 1937: 35 volumes, plus one of indexes, which have served as a backdrop to many portraits of important figures. It became an ‘interior monument’ that has grown over time and enriched the knowledge of many. Then, with the advent of digital technology, this heritage became dematerialized but did not lose its authority. The entries in Treccani represent the most credible and accurate source, even in Google searches: a certification that provides certainty in contrast to the randomness of Wikipedia or the approximation of social media, or, more generally, the internet.
What is the significance of an online encyclopedia in the digital age?
“Although the vision of encyclopedic, unified knowledge may seem rather outdated in the age of Google, the true contemporary significance and value of the Treccani Encyclopedia lies in being a universally recognized reference. This is a crucial merit in an era of fake news, where we are no longer able to interpret phenomena through cause-and-effect relationships. The digitization process of Treccani was initiated in 1993 by Rita Levi Montalcini, then president of the Institute of the Treccani Encyclopedia, with the goal of making it a reference point for new generations. What was then unforeseeable, and what makes its online accessibility even more relevant today, is that with digital technology and social media, we have transitioned from a visual culture, typical of the last century, to one centered on written words. Everything is consumed through Google search strings, which, to quote Alessandro Baricco, has changed our posture towards life.”
"How can the heritage of an encyclopedia be translated into a multimedia format?"
“At the core of the rebranding developed in 2020 was the desire to establish a connection with an intangible identity that carries authority. We had to realign the brand architecture, which had been structured around a system of editorial products (and more), making it unified and adaptable to the multimedia nature of the digital world. We modified the ‘tree’ T and replaced the previous font with a Sans Serif (bastoni, without serifs) to ensure better readability, even at smaller sizes. Finally, we translated the theme of the frame, which defines the structured composition of Treccani publishing and draws from both rationalist culture and the tradition of bookbinding, into recurring frame motifs across all new editorial formats, from digital to print.”