Bellissimo #5
186 x 242 mm, 120 pages
Italy (English-language)
Biannual (ish)
Content by: Paolo Zerbini and Ivan Ruberto
Designer: Giacomo Torsani
‘Life guidance disguised as a Magazine.’
This fifth issue of Bellissimo bills itself as ‘your essential mystical guide to the most mystical island with pubs’—otherwise known as Ireland.
Featuring two covers—open from one direction for the pubs and farmers, from the other for the mysticism and landscapes—this issue is packed full with photography of locals, their beauties, their food (Guinness), their jobs, and their leisures (plunging in freezing cold water, some nude, some not). Through its characteristically playful tone, Bellissimo invites avid armchair travellers to look beyond clichés and stereotypes. As the magazine’s Founding Fathers (editors) put it, ‘there is more to Ireland than this’—and these pages make a compelling case for why.
On the Journal: ‘But for all its irreverence, Zerbini and Ruberto have clearly put huge amounts of consideration into Bellissimo; every single page has been designed exceptionally well. It almost tricks us into believing it is a cheap tourist beach read, but Bellissimo is a touch too tasteful to really persuade, perched in that sweet spot between ironic ‘retro’ design and outdated imitation vintage...’
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