By Camilla Sarra. Cover by Sara Colaone “Ciao ciao bambina”, Bologna, Kappa Edizioni, 2010. Pastello su carta, (21×29,7 cm)
Sara Colaone’s Comics: Stories from the 20th Century
Now through November 9, 2025, Palazzo Blu in Pisa is hosting an exhibition that’s far more than just a collection of comics—it’s an emotional journey through the untold stories of the 20th century. Titled Stories of the 20th Century in Comics, the show features over 200 original drawings by acclaimed graphic novelist and illustrator Sara Colaone, offering an immersive look into forgotten lives and invisible histories.
Born in Pordenone in 1970, Colaone is one of Italy’s most original voices in contemporary comics today. Her work blends striking visual language with bold political insight. She’s received major accolades—including the Gran Guinigi Award for Best Artist at Lucca Comics & Games (2017)—and she created the official poster for the 2024 Turin International Book Fair. Beyond her own artistic output, she teaches Comics and Illustration at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and curates the Comics section of Nuovi Argomenti, a long-standing literary magazine.
Comics That Speak from the Margins: Every Story in Sara Colaone’s Show
But this exhibition isn’t about timelines or textbook facts. It’s about giving space to voices usually pushed to the margins—women, queer people, migrants, outcasts, rebels, and dreamers. Through deeply personal and politically charged storytelling, Colaone rewrites history with empathy and intensity.
Evase dall’Harem: A True Story of Liberation
In Evase dall’Harem (2020), Colaone revisits the daring escape of two Ottoman sisters who fled Istanbul for Paris in 1906. Their story isn’t just about changing location—it’s about claiming freedom, rewriting destiny, and challenging everything that was expected of them. Page by page, Colaone captures their fears, their excitement, and the inner transformation that comes with choosing to be free.
Leda Rafanelli: Life without Borders in Comics
Leda. Che solo amore e luce ha per confine (2016) is a whirlwind portrait of Leda Rafanelli—writer, anarchist, Muslim, and palm reader—whose life defied every label. Her path stretched across decades of political turmoil, love, war, and self-reinvention. Colaone captures her with emotional precision, showing a woman who navigated contradictions and lived fiercely, without ever compromising her beliefs.
Silenced No More: Antonio Angelicola’s Story in Comics
In Italia sono tutti maschi (2008), Colaone sheds light on a shameful chapter in Italian history: the fascist regime’s exile of homosexual men. Through the story of Antonio Angelicola, aka Ninella, we are pulled into a world of state violence, secrecy, and quiet defiance. Told through flashbacks and interviews, the narrative turns memory into an act of resistance. It’s a story that speaks to anyone who’s ever had to fight simply to exist.
Italian Emigration & ComingofAge in Comics
Bye Bye Baby (Ciao ciao bambina, 2010) draws from Colaone’s own family history, following Valeria, a young woman who emigrates from Italy to Switzerland in the 1960s. Suddenly, she’s in a new country, discovering nightlife, independence, and desire. It’s a coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of a nation rebuilding—and of a girl learning to claim her space in the world. It’s joyful, bittersweet, and utterly real.
Hotel Ariston: Women’s Resistance and Social Change
Set in a coastal hotel during Italy’s postwar economic boom, Ariston (2018) follows Renata, a hotel owner who refuses to fit the mold society expects of her. Her story blends private struggle with public change. Scandals, silent suffering, romance, and resistance weave into real historical events: the Wilma Montesi case, Franca Viola’s refusal of a forced marriage, the 1958 closure of state-regulated brothels, and major legal reforms in divorce and family rights. Through it all, Colaone portrays a woman—and a country—on the edge of transformation.
Beyond Comics: A Powerful Cultural Statement
“This isn’t just an art show,” says curator Giorgio Bacci. “It’s a journey through the shadows of the 20th century—a place where memory, resistance, and identity collide.” Colaone’s work doesn’t merely revisit the past; it reframes it. Her stories give the spotlight to the people history tried to forget, and in doing so, she asks us to reflect on who we are today. The exhibition is accompanied by a documentary about the illustrator, produced by Lucca Comics and Games.
