San Marino, October 29, 2024 – A ceremony was held this morning for the donation by the publishing house Imago La Nobiltà del Facsimile – in the person of its General Manager Barbara Bertoni – to the Expo Commissariat, in the person of Commissioner General Filippo Francini, of a copy of the volume ‘Vita Sancti Marini,’ the oldest manuscript found on the life of San Marino, which narrates the material and spiritual itinerary that led the stone-cutter Marino, in the late 3rd – early 4th century AD, from the Dalmatian coastal island of Arbe – today Raab in Croatia – to the shores of the upper Adriatic on the Italian peninsula, to the Roman city of Ariminum (Rimini), and then settled on Mount Titan, today San Marino.
The work – a limited edition – whose original copy is kept at the National University Library in Turin, Italy, will be displayed within the Republic of San Marino’s exhibition space at the Japanese Expo from April 13 to October 13, 2025.
Imago is the Italian publisher specializing in the modern restitution of the great and ancient manuscript book heritage, an excellence in facsimile reproduction of the most sumptuous codices of the past, with the skillful and exclusive use of the alchemy between the ancient art of miniature and the most modern technology. Calling themselves a “Renaissance workshop,” they take care of the entire production process in-house, combining high technology with craftsmanship, from digitizing the manuscript to hand binding.
Their mission is to become the world’s reference in facsimile reproduction and in the popularization and protection of manuscript book heritage through facsimile reproduction of the precious illuminated manuscripts, preserved in the vaults of the most prestigious libraries of the world to enable collectors, scholars and institutions to be able to own the limited-run reproductions of facsimiles of ancient manuscripts that, otherwise, could not even be viewed, leafed through or purchased.
‘The initiative is among those supporting the candidacy for the project’s inscription in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, filed on November 30 last year and now under consideration by the Unesco General Commission in Paris,’ said Commissioner Francini. ‘The Republic of San Marino is accessing this UNESCO program for the first time precisely because of the manuscript, and we are convinced that exposing it to the many visitors expected at what will be the most important event of 2025 adds further value to their experience and to our participation. We are deeply grateful to Imago for the sensitivity they have shown and the attention they have decided to reserve for the San Marino Expo 2025 Osaka project’.
‘I feel honored and grateful to have been entrusted with the task of reproducing in a copy faithful to the original the oldest evidence of the history of the State of San Marino and to contribute to the project of enhancing the historical heritage of your country also in Japan next year on the occasion of the World Expo in Osaka,’ said Barbara Bertoni.
