L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano E v e r y I t a l i a n born after 1961 h a s , f o r s u r e , some childhood m e m o r i e s t i e d to f i g u r i n e P a n i n i and their beautiful albums. We'd buy them – or better, beg our parents and grandpar- ents to buy them for us -- e x c h a n g e t h e m w i t h o n e another to complete our col- lections and, when only a handful was missing to reach the goal, we'd order them d i r e c t l y f r o m P a n i n i , i n Modena, filling in that form you'd find at the end of each album: the care and atten- tion we'd put into the task was far superior to anything we needed to do for school, I can guarantee you. P e r s o n a l l y , I w a s i n t o every collection dedicated to the manga series I'd watch on TV and I was probably c o m p l e t i n g a t l e a s t t h r e e a l b u m s e v e r y y e a r . M y m o t h e r w o u l d g e t m e 1 0 packets of figurine at a time, each of them contained, if I remember well, 5 or 6 of them and cost round 200 lire, for a total of 1000 lire for the lot, the equivalent of today's 0.60 cents. While I wasn't into col- lecting footballers' figurine, Panini rose to fame – and is today still mostly known for – its Serie A, Mondiali and Europei collections: honestly, you can say you made it in soccer only if you got your own face on a figu- rina Panini. Panini started, as many other famous Italian compa- n i e s , a s a s m a l l f a m i l y b u s i n e s s . T h e P a n i n i b r o t h e r s , G i u s e p p e a n d Benito, had been running t h e i r f a m i l y ' s n e w s p a p e r k i o s k i n t h e h e a r t o f Modena for a while when, in 1 9 6 1 , t h e y f o u n d e d t h e A g e n z i a D i s t r i b u z i o n e Giornali Fratelli Panini. It had all started when they c a m e a c r o s s , b y c h a n c e , some boxes of old stickers p r o d u c e d b y E d i z i o n i M i l a n e s i N a n n i n a : t h e y thought it was a nice idea, they found the stickers quite quirky. On the cover of the f i r s t A l b u m C a l c i a t o r i Panini was A.C. Milan leg- end Nils Liedholm. Little d i d t h e P a n i n i b r o t h e r s know they had just changed forever the world of millions of children. I n 1 9 6 3 , G i u s e p p e a n d bought it back in 1992. Since then, Panini passed into dif- ferent hands, both Italian and foreign, including those of Marvel, which owned it f r o m 1 9 9 4 t o 1 9 9 9 a n d whose comics are still pub- lished by Panini today. In 2 0 1 3 , P a n i n i a c q u i r e s a l l Disney publications in Italy, including iconic Topolino (that's Mickey Mouse on this side of the pond). While the group is widely known at international level – it is present in 120 coun- t r i e s , w i t h o p e r a t i o n a l branches also in the US and Mexico -- it remains solidly tied to Italy, as its headquar- t e r s a r e s t i l l i n M o d e n a . Panini group is the largest producers of stickers in the world, and the fourth largest company in Italy specialized in children and young adult publications. I n s p i t e o f t h e m a n y changes at entrepreneurial l e v e l , P a n i n i ' s m i s s i o n Benito were joined in the family venture by two other b r o t h e r s , U m b e r t o a n d Franco: this was the lineup that made Panini big, trans- forming it in a company that was to reach a yearly rev- enue of around 100 billion l i r e . I n 1 9 8 8 , t h e P a n i n i brothers sold the company to British group Maxwell: those weren't easy years, but luckily Bain Gallo Cuneo and D e A g o s t i n i , a r e n o w n e d Italian publishing house, remained the same, just like i t s l o g o , t h e f a m o u s m e d i e v a l k n i g h t i n f u l l armor holding a spear that so many children came to love. As said, Panini's fortune came, at least initially, from its soccer players collec- tion: a packet of figurine dei calciatori in 1961 was worth 10 lire, or about 0.06 cents and only had two figurine inside. Not a lot, but if you consider that, today, a stick- e r f r o m t h a t f i r s t e d i t i o n could sell for up to 120 USD, that little initial investment may be worth much more now. The album Panini were popular and loads of fun, so much so that the company soon began branching out- side of the world of soccer and created collections dedi- c a t e d t o o t h e r p o p u l a r t h e m e s , i n c l u d i n g m y beloved childhood manga, as w e l l a s T V s e r i e s , o t h e r sports, movies and comics. In recent years, Panini has been producing around 1 billion packets of stickers per year, for an average of 6 billion figurine, that is, one for almost every person on Earth: what an impressive g o a l f o r a c o m p a n y b o r n from four siblings' know- how and a passion for col- lecting! In 1992, shortly before his death, Giuseppe Panini d o n a t e d t o t h e c i t y o f Modena his entire collection of figurine, a collection that was transformed into the M u s e o d e l l a F i g u r i n a i n 2 0 0 6 : i n i t , m o r e t h a n 500,000 stickers, along with other collectibles like prints, m a t c h b o x e s , r e s t a u r a n t menus, calendars. Giuseppe and his brothers gave to generations of kids, both in Italy and abroad, hours of joy and fun: there was quite nothing, during childhood, like the smell of fresh figurine out of their p a c k e t , l i k e t h e s e n s e o f accomplishment in complet- ing an album and the pride i n l e a f i n g t h o u g h i t . A n d then, there were the hours spent with friends exchang- ing stickers, at the rhythm of the iconic ce l'ho, ce l'ho, mi manca, a mantra for chil- d r e n o f y e s t e r d a y a n d , indeed, today. FRANCESCA BEZZONE The joys of childhood: a Panini album (Photo: Michaeljayberlin/Dreamstime) I t a l y a n d h e r b e l o v e d s t i c k e r s : figurine Panini LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE TRADITIONS

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