Exhibition opening times:
Thursday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)

Special closure:
Friday 2 May 2025

Special openings

• 26 February 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)
• 4 and 5 March 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)
• 11 and 12 March 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)
• 21,22 and 23 April 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)
• 28,29 and 30 April 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)
• 2 June 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)
• 15 and 16 July 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last admission 7 p.m.)

Ticketing:

• Full price: € 16
• Reduced price: € 14 (from 14 to 18 years old, over 65 with ID, students under 26 with ID, military personnel with ID, tourist guides with ID, practicing journalists and publicists with ID, regularly registered with the Order, disabled accompanying persons with disabilities, ICOM and AICS Bologna members with ID, State property employees with ID, Palazzo Pallavicini email list subscribers, ticket holders of other exhibitions at Palazzo Pallavicini)
• Bologna Welcome Card, Bologna Congress and Card Cultura: € 12
• Family ticket: 1 or 2 adults + children (from 6 to 14 years old): adult: € 12 reduced - child: € 8 reduced up to 5 years free ticket
• University Thursday: € 12 (for all students presenting their student card)
• Diabolik - Vettriano single ticket: € 26 (to be used at the same time without leaving the Palace)
• Disabled visitors with an INPS disability certificate: € 12 (no car permits accepted)
• Free of charge: (children up to the age of 6, holders of Disability Card issued by INPS in force from the Official Gazette on 23 December 2021)
• Groups: € 12 (min.10 people - max.25 people) **
• Schools: € 6(2 teachers free for each class, H/104 free) **
  **groups and schools must book date and time at info@palazzopallavicini.com
• Open ticket: € 18 (ticket without time and date restrictions, valid until the end of the exhibition)

Warnings:

• Dogs are only allowed in the carrier.
• The carrier is unattended, please do not leave valuables behind
• Smoking and consumption of food and drink in the exhibition is strictly prohibited

Important information:
Access for non-ambulatory persons or disabled persons in wheelchairs (non-electric) is exclusively by means of tracked stairlift Model Jolly Ramp D3000010 supplied by TGR with a load capacity of up to 140 kg (weight calculated between person and wheelchair, the total weight will be the responsibility of the visitor) for two flights of stairs for a total of 38 steps. The complete technical data sheet can be downloaded and viewed at the following link: https://tgr.it/prodotto/jolly-ramp-montascale-mobile-a-cingoli/

Contact exhibition and events - Palazzo Pallavicini
E-mail: info@palazzopallavicini.com
Cell: +39 3313471504

Through fascinating original plates, visitors will be able to retrace the history of Diabolik, from its conception to its reinterpretation, passing through the most significant aspects of the protagonist's graphic and introspective transformation. The exhibition will tell the story of the publication from its very beginnings, from the moment the Giussani sisters had the intuition to make available to commuters at Milan's Cadorna station a small-format comic book characterised by just a few cartoons per page, whose reading required the time of a short journey and whose protagonist was a cunning and elusive criminal. From then to the present day, Diabolik's editorial adventure has been able to accompany readers, constantly renewing itself and imposing itself as a veritable cult capable of transcending national borders and time limits.

Precisely to highlight the fascination that the masked thief exerts on his public, an entire room will be dedicated to the exhibition of all the albums published from the origins to the present day, in a sort of uninterrupted visual narration that accompanies the passage of time. There will be a selection of the most beautiful original plates from Diabolik's most famous stories, flanked not only by the unforgettable protagonists, his companion Eva Kant and Inspector Ginko, but also by other characters such as the Duchess Altea, little Bettina and the powerful criminal King. Through the cartoons you will recognise the anti-hero's peculiarities: his unmistakable black suit, the weapons and tools used for his blows, up to the masks that allow him and Eva to change their appearance. In addition, a collection of models of his Jaguar E-Type will surprise visitors by revealing some of his famous tricks for evading the police and committing misdeeds while going unpunished. The exhibition will also provide an opportunity to understand the processes behind the creation of a comic strip, revealing some interesting facts about the working methods of the past and present. For the first time, the original drawings of ‘The King of Terror’, the precious and rare number 1, will also be on public display in their entirety, allowing visitors to appreciate the structure and unique aspects that have not ceased to fascinate fans and collectors since November 1962. A special look at the figure of Diabolik will see his artistic interpretation by those who have been able to observe him beyond the comic strip as a real subject full of fascination: a number of unique works dedicated to him will be on display, capable of bringing to the fore the communicative power that has made him and still makes him the testimonial of significant social campaigns. The tour will be completed with a multimedia room where visitors will have the opportunity to delve into the meanders of criminal cunning and immerse themselves in the tension-filled atmospheres found within the pages of the comic strip.

DIABOLIK

In November 1962, a new comic strip appeared on newsstands in Milan: it was called Diabolik, proclaimed to be the King of Terror and had a different format from the usual comics. The stories in this ‘comic of the thrill’ are signed by A. and L. Giussani. Antonio and Ludovico, Andrea and Luca? No: Angela and Luciana. Despite the fact that the Sixties were bringing a new independence, it was still considered improper for two women from ‘Milano bene’ to write stories for adults in which the protagonist is a villain, a diabolical criminal who always manages to escape the law and, as if that were not enough, lives, more uxorio, with his blonde companion. And certainly the great success that soon invested this ‘black’ comic strip, still one of the best sellers on the Italian market today, lies in the personality of its authors: two beautiful, cultured, witty and restless women who did not invent ‘only’ a series, but their own way of making comics, of thinking it, of writing it, of managing it, of living it.

THE GIUSSANI SISTERS

Angela (born 10 June 1922 in Milan) has a strong character and is extrovert and rebellious. She moves with ease from a gala evening, in an evening dress, to driving an aeroplane. Yes, because in the 1950s, when the few women who drove cars were looked upon with curiosity and suspicion, Angela even had an aeroplane pilot's licence. And not only that, she is a sporty woman: she rides horses, skis, practises various sports, drives a car (her own). But above all, she works hard. At first as a model for fashion and advertising, then as a journalist and editor. At the age of twenty-seven, she married publisher Gino Sansoni: a guy full of ideas who had the courage and the cheek to send them all to print. By the side of such a dynamic character, Angela would seem destined to remain in the shadows, but instead she even manages to outshine him. Luciana (born in Milan, 19 April 1928), a younger sister, approached the world of publishing a few years later. Apparently more rational and down-to-earth, at first she seems destined for a quiet career as a clerk. After graduating from the ‘German school’, she finds a good job at Folletto (the well-known hoover factory). In post-war Italy, a steady, well-paid job is the ambition of a lifetime.  For Luciana, however, it is only a transitional phase. Because she is not content to stand by and watch her sister's early publishing adventures. And Angela feels the need to involve Luciana, whose collaboration with Sansoni's Astoria becomes less and less ‘external’. Until that publishing house becomes too small for the two Giussanis, who want something more. Something all their own. So Angela quits her job and with the liquidation she opens her own publishing house in 1960: Astorina.

Since 2017, Pallavicini Srl has been organising, curating and hosting exhibitions of artists of international stature in Palazzo Pallavicini, with a close eye on Italy's artistic heritage, from photography to modern and contemporary art.