MARIO ROMANO (DATES UNKNOWN)
110
●
RICCIONE. 1933.
38
3
/
4
x27 inches, 98
1
/
2
x68
1
/
2
cm. F.I.A.R., Milan.
Condition B+: repaired tears at edges; skinning in image; minor restoration along horizontal fold and in
margins; creases and abrasions in margins and image.
A Northern Italian resort on the Adriatic coast, Riccione is part of the Riviera Romagna, which
includes Rimini and Cattolica. Known as the “Green Pearl of the Adriatic,” a term which arises from
the town’s tree-lined streets, parks and gardens, Riccione rose to prominence in the 1930s, when it was
chosen by Mussolini as his family’s holiday destination. Little is known about the artist, who is only
known to have designed one other poster. The languorous aesthetic, focusing on the sun bather’s body,
is in keeping with “the cult of the body and open air and the leisure state of
dopolavoro
,” (Venice
Fragile City 1797-1997, by Margaret Plant. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2002, p. 303-4) which
was prevalent in Italian poster time during the early 1930s. Adriatico p. 165, Bolaffi p. 188.
[1,500/2,000]
