Farewell to Luigi Spagnol, the publisher who discovered bestsellers

 '' Luigi was a person of substance, he paid no attention to honors. But now I want it to be clear to everyone who has disappeared. The person who with his editorial successes has repeatedly shown in the last thirty years that he knows better than anyone else what a book is, what a book can do for readers and how far it can go has disappeared. I would like to try to explain it with his words: "Books are written by people, read by people, sold by people, and they talk about people. It is therefore essential that they are also published by people, free to follow their own ideas, their own strategies and passions. " with this emotional memory Stefano Mauri, president and CEO of the Gems group, greets Luigi Spagno, who he defines as "a brother at work", with whom he has shared in the last thirty years many adventures that mark the history of Italian publishing and that of a group with a large and abnormal personality. Luigi Spagnol dies today after a long illness, and leaves his wife Hanne and two children, Lara and Antonio. He was born in Milan on March 21, 1961, 59 years ago and takes away what his group in a note rightly calls "an untimely death". He was the publisher with the best-selling flair, not surprisingly he had brought to Italy, with Salani, the greatest editorial case of all time, or the Harry Potter saga. But it is he who chooses many titles that have sold more than a million copies: the Gabbianella and the cat by Luis Sepúlveda in 1996, the bestseller of Giove Covatta Word of Job back in 1991. With an eclectic intuition he has been able to find sales champions in the field of miscellaneous: from How to stop getting the mental saws of Giulio Cesare Giacobbe in 2003 to Cotto and eaten by Benedetta Parodi in 2009. In particular, Vallardi, as a publisher known for his linguistic catalog, under his guidance becomes a publishing house protagonist of this sector, creating, with the push of its successes (in addition to Parodi, remember Marie Kondo and Valter Longo), new departments within Italian bookstores. He brought to Italy authors of great literary value such as Philip Pullman and Margaret Atwood, and he was able to propose and make real contemporary classics such as David Almond with great passion. With the direction of Ponte alle Grazie, he has shown constant attention to quality literary fiction, publishing, in addition to Atwood, authors such as Philippe Claudel, Karl Ove Knausgård, David Mamet, Simone de Beauvoir. On the Italian fiction front, we remember the passion with which he published Pia Pera, in particular his literary testament To the garden I still haven't said it. A career that surely comes from the teachings of his father, a great connoisseur of the publishing world like Mauro Spagnol, but also from a solid preparation and personal passion, then shared with Stefano Mauri in the adventure of the Gems group which today includes about 20 editorial titles. Luigi Spagnol in 1985 obtained the Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design in Paris.
    Introduced to the publishing world by his father Mario Spagnol, from 1986 to 1988 he worked at the rights office of the Longanesi publishing house, and from 1989 he assumed editorial responsibility for the Salani publishing house, later becoming editor and president. He will create one of the most important and respected children's catalogs in the world, which welcomes international and Italian authors, extending to quality fiction for all. In 1996 he also assumed the editorial direction of Ponte alle Grazie.
    In 1999 he became CEO of the two companies and subsequently, from 2005, president. In 2001 he founded Magazzini Salani, and in 2005 he became managing director of the publishing group Mauri Spagnol, assuming his vice presidency later. In 2008 he participated with Stefano Mauri in the establishment of the Spanish start-up Duomo Ediciones, GeMS 'first direct publishing experience abroad. Since 2009 he is the president of Antonio Vallardi publisher and La Coccinella.
    Very fine translator since his youth of many books for the publishing houses Guanda and Longanesi, Salani and Ponte alle Grazie, from Wodehouse to Cooper, from The man who planted the trees of Jean Giono to the beloved Winnie Puh of Milne, from Io la giraffe and pelican by Roald Dahl to the translation of the eighth volume of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the curse of the heir, up to The fairy tales of Beda the Bard. Just to name a few. Recent its translation, from the Norwegian, of the novel Love by Hanne rstavik (2019). It was his Italian adaptation of Arthur Bloch's Murphy's Law, of which he is the author of Murphy's Law on love. Co-author of the illustrated book Metropolitan fantastic creatures in 1992, and of books and compilation manuals such as Machiavelli for managers (edited with his mother, Elena Spagnol) and of many cookbooks (Fish and Pasta, Cooking courses of Magazzini Salani ), his great passion. A multifaceted and creative man, with a love of the book, which was part of his DNA - and which is enclosed in the logo chosen by him on the occasion of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Salani publishing house "Happier with a book" - to a a great knowledge of classical music and opera, translated into the practice of the piano, Luigi Spagnol joined a painter activity, with various exhibitions in Milan in the 90s and culminated with an important exhibition in Brescia in 2000. Thanks to the great sensitivity towards illustrators and graphic designers, she has always had extreme care and taste in the choice of covers and, for Salani, she has also designed several of them personally. He painted and worked with all his publishing houses until the last days.