Leporello

Name: Leporello
Address: Via del Pigneto 162/e, Rome, 00176, IT
Telephone: +393290623131
Price range: ££

Casa
Italia
Rome
Leporello

Is a place for meetings and activities among people sharing their experiences and thoughts on the web.

Leporello è una libreria dedicata all’editoria fotografica, come base e punto di connessione con libri di grafica, architettura, illustrazione, saggistica, letteratura e chissà altro. Leporello è una libreria dedicata all'editoria fotografica, come base e punto di connessione con libri di grafica, architettura, illustrazione, saggistica, letteratura e chissà altro.

È uno spazio espositivo e un lu

ogo di progettazione dedicato ai libri e alle immagini, che si occupa di promuovere e diffondere un approccio multidisciplinare e trasversale alla cultura visiva.

È un luogo che offre occasioni d'incontro e di attività condivise a realtà che si incontrano in ambito digitale.

È una parola dal suono buffo, può far pensare a un libro a fisarmonica, a Mozart o anche semplicemente a un un leprotto.

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Leporello is a bookshop devoted to photobooks as starting and connecting point with graphic design, architecture, illustrated books, essays, literature and who knows what else. Is an exhibition venue and a project space focused on books and images, with the aim of promoting and disseminating a multidisciplinary and wide approach to visual culture. Is a word with a funny sound, reminding an accordion book, Mozart, or simply, in Italian, a small hare.

01/06/2026

📚 ON OUR SHELVES 📚

Behind time (2026) by .peter
published by .books & .de

In Behind Time, Peter Piller explores the intersection of precision and failure within the realm of nature photography. Shifting his focus from found newspaper archives to his own camera, Piller traveled the world to track rare and elusive bird species. However, subverting the traditional “trophy shot” sought by ornithologists, Piller captures the birds at the exact moment they vanish—just as they fly out of the frame or disappear behind a branch. By naming each photograph after the specific species that has just escaped the viewer’s gaze, he highlights the gap between human classification and the fleeting reality of the natural world. It is a deadpan, melancholic study of presence through absence, characteristic of Piller’s ability to find profound meaning in the “unintentional” and the peripheral.

During his exhibition opening here at Leporello on May 14th, Peter read from his own text to illuminate the philosophy behind this patience. We have brought a portion of that text here for you:

“waiting and repetition: perhaps I wasn’t going out to photograph, but rather to wait. and to go out and wait is harder than you might think; it is an active, not passive, state. to keep oneself and the camera always ready for a moment that might not return so soon, keeping one’s eye on the continuously changing light conditions, intuiting the birds’ flight directions through knowledge of the place, recognizing calls, and knowing how to read signs and tracks, requires an attention similar to that required by fishing, only that there—and this is precisely what makes this deadly hobby even more fantastic!—it is above all about anticipating what happens invisibly beneath the surface of the water. here, as there: it is often chance that determines the decisive moment.
It took me a while before I understood that the problem wasn’t my guide—the three volumes on Germany’s best birdwatching sites, but that I had to revisit these places multiple times if I wanted to spot something more interesting than a great tit.”

29/05/2026

⭐️ NEW BOOK ⭐️

Boundary Hunt (2026) by Toshio Shibata
published by

Boundary Hunt, by Japanese photographer Toshio Shibata, is a series produced in Japan and the United States between 2000 and 2004, a period during which the artist was experimenting with new techniques and shifting his focus to colour photography after two decades of working in black and white. For Boundary Hunt, Shibata used Polaroid Type 55, a black-and-white positive-to-negative film that could be developed to produce a negative, which could then be enlarged.
From his early days as a photographer in the early 1980s, Shibata identified infrastructure as his subject of choice, as it is both evocative of the contemporary world whilst remaining timeless.
The title of the series evokes both the intersection between the natural and artificial worlds where Shibata situates his practice, and the unusual border created by the Type 55 film around the image. After a few initial experiments, Shibata decided to incorporate these borders into the images of the series, as they seemed to enter into a dialogue with these landscapes blending natural elements and concrete. A hunt that continues at the boundary of these two worlds.
The book Boundary Hunt contains 34 black-and-white photographs, most of which are published here for the first time.

28/05/2026

⭐️ NEW BOOK ⭐️

Italian Story (2026) by .photo
published by

“The photographs in this book were made over the past four decades, primarily in Italy, entirely with an 8×10 view camera. I suspect I will continue this work for as long as I am taking pictures.
The title reflects the complexity of the Italian word storia, which holds meanings as diverse as history, story, situation, issue, fuss, hassle, tale, or lie. Depending on context, it may also refer to a love story, brief or ongoing. Italian Story is a broad narration: a record of events, a historical fiction.”
Andrea Modica, 2026

Italian Story is a deeply personal and poetic journey through Italy, spanning over forty years of photographic work by American photographer Andrea Modica.
Born into a third-generation Italian-American family, Modica began traveling to Italy as a young woman, gradually building a visual archive of the country’s landscapes, people, rituals, and moments of quiet intimacy. These photographs, taken across decades and regions, form a lyrical exploration of identity, memory, and belonging filtered through Modica’s singular, tactile photographic language.

26/05/2026

⭐️NUOVO LIBRI ⭐️

Mentre l’orrore a Gaza squarcia il presente, la violenza brutale di Israele ci impone di scavare nelle ferite della storia per capire dove affondano le radici di questo abisso. Da questo bisogno di verità è nato il seminario “L’Olocausto e la Nakba: riflessioni tra storia e trauma”, tenutosi il 22 aprile alla Sapienza: un grazie immenso alla prof.ssa Chiara Adorisio per aver aperto questo spazio necessario di pensiero condiviso.

Oggi vi presentiamo due testi che sono bussole nel buio e atti di testimonianza, se il primo scava nel trauma attraverso la parola, il secondo ne fotografa i frutti avvelenati nel presente. Due letture per non restare indifferenti.

Olocausto e Nakba. Narrazioni tra storia e trauma (2022) by Bashir Bashir & Amos Goldberg
pubblicato da

Un ponte concettuale nato dal dialogo tra un intellettuale palestinese e uno storico ebreo israeliano. Una tessitura densa che attraversa memorie e traumi incrociati, dimostrando che l’ascolto dell’altro è l’unica via per un cammino di liberazione.

REJECTED ITEMS (2024)
pubblicato da

Una mappa visiva e dolorosa degli aiuti umanitari negati al popolo di Gaza. Un catalogo dell’assurdo che trasforma l’assenza in un grido, mostrando la violenza burocratica che si fa blocco quotidiano.

English in the comments.

25/05/2026

✨PRESENTATION✨

KAMERA SERIES | experimental films and printed matter. Talk with Giuliana Prucca (.publishing) and (), curators of the project, with the participation of . Followed by a screening of a selection of films by Ion Grigorescu and .gedeon.

Organized by AVARIE and Labor Neunzehn in a former GDR building in Berlin, the KAMERA SERIES is a screening and exhibition program that fosters critical exchange on the contemporary moving image in dialogue with independent publishing and limited-edition letterpress cahiers. At the Leporello event, curators Giuliana and Valentina will discuss the project’s origins, its place in the Berlin art scene, and the political necessity of supporting unconventional artistic practices amid a cultural funding crisis. The evening will feature insights into the series’ 2021–2025 roster, a screening and discussion with artist Andrea Dojmi, excerpts from experimental films by Ion Grigorescu and Christine Gedeon, and a display of participating artists’ publications and printed exhibition materials.

—

🌹AUTHOR PICKS🌹 by Giuliana Prucca and Valentina Besegher

Ahead of their presentation, we wanted to honor their practice in true Leporello spirit, by sharing q selection of their treasured titles from our shelves:

🌹Giuliana Prucca

The Natural Enemies of Books: A Messy History of Women in Printing and Typography (2020) by MMS (Maryam Fanni, Matilda Flodmark and Sara Kaaman)
published by Occasional Papers

Atlante delle emozioni. In viaggio tra arte, architettura e cinema (2015) by Giuliana Bruno
published by Johan & Levi

Ecologia letteraria e altri scritti di ecocritica (2025, n.e.) by Serenella Iovino
published by Edizioni Ambiente

🌹Valentina Besegher

Morire di classe (2021) by Carla Cerati and Gianni Berengo Gardin
edited by Franco Basaglia and Franca Ongaro Basaglia
published by Il Saggiatore

Black Drop. Cine-roman (2023) by Simon Starling
published by Roma Publications

Vitalità del negativo (2010) by Ugo Mulas
published by Johan and Levi

22/05/2026

⭐️ NEW BOOK ⭐️

Bilateral (2023) by
published by

For several years, Samuel Gratacap has been visiting territories that bear the traces of a precarious, temporary occupation, of a passage and of a contemporary history: that of the paths of exile on the Mediterranean rim.
Bilateral echoes the presence – real or suggested – of exiles on the French-Italian border, and the question of their passage through this transalpine sector.
It is also a work on the landscape, on both sides of the border, the one that separates and unites us in turn. Samuel Gratacap tried to put his eyes on it and to listen to the people he met, in an effort to criticize the media images and the traditional representations that are proposed.

21/05/2026

⭐️ NEW BOOK ⭐️

Le bruissement entre les murs (2024) by and
published by

Le bruissement entre les murs invites viewers to wander through a hybrid garden of photography and needle drawing. Using the historic Murs à pêches of Montreuil as both a backdrop and a driving force, artists Clara Chichin and Sabatina Leccia sample reality to bridge the gap between daydream and history. From Louis XIV’s peach fields to modern urban sprawl, the physical materiality of their collaboration embodies the layers of time and the impalpable energies hidden within the walls. Operating at a slow, deliberate pace, this sensory map serves as a poetic invitation to reclaim politics and re-enchant our connection with the sensitive world.

Edited by Emilia Genuardi and
Produced with the support of , AIC DRAC Île-de-France, the Montreuil Murs à pêches Association, and its President-Founder, Pascal Maje
Exhibited by , unRepresented, and the Biennale de l’image tangible.
This project was a winner of the Transverse Grant (endowed by ADAGP and Freelens) and received writing and production grants from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie Regions.

19/05/2026

🌹AUTHOR PICKS🌹 by

Ahead of Alessia’s book presentation tomorrow, we wanted to honor her practice and explore her shelf selections. True to the Leporello spirit, we invited her to share a small selection of her treasured titles from our shelves. Here is a look at what moves her:

🌹Traces (2026) by Vanessa Winship and
published by

Traces explores Sardinia’s quiet interior and coast through the stark lens of British documentary photographers Vanessa Winship and George Georgiou. Their images of abandoned mines and unpeopled villages move past tourist tropes, turning photography into a deep interrogation of time and memory.

Curated by
Text by Bachisio Bandinu, Laurie Hurwitz,

🌹Belén, María Belén (2025) by
published by

Winner of the Andy Rocchelli Grant 2025, this book chronicles the life of activist through archival photos and autobiographical texts. Her personal journey mirrors the broader collective struggles of Latin America’s LGBTQIA+ community, serving as a crucial pillar for preserving trans identity.

Edited by with the collaboration of
Design by:
Cover and text design by
Texts by
Translation by
Proofreading by
Image mastery by

🌹Lusaka Street (2025) by Alick Phiri
published by

This project uncovers Zambia’s photographic history through the previously unseen archive of Alick Phiri, a pioneering Black studio photographer working under strict camera restrictions. By capturing intimate portraits within domestic spheres, Phiri created a vital testament to ordinary lives and Black self-representation.

Curator and text by

18/05/2026

✨BOOK PRESENTATION✨

Wednesday, the 20th, 7pm

Altera Italia (2026) by
published by
with Alessia Rollo and .costagliola

Altera Italia is a photographic and anthropological project that explores the ritual imagery of Southern Italy, reinterpreting its visual history and reworking the stereotypes inherited from the neorealism of the last century.
Altera Italia is the result of a five-year research project, launched in 2019 and developed as a multidisciplinary initiative that intertwines photography, archival materials, video, and animation.
This work reexamines the cultural identity of Southern Italy by critically re-evaluating the visual legacy produced in the 1950s and 1960s by anthropologists, filmmakers, and photographers associated with Ernesto De Martino’s expeditions, who helped solidify the image of the South as an archaic and superstitious place.
The research is divided into two main strands: the manipulation of archival materials from the neorealist period, reprocessed using analog and digital techniques, painting on negatives, collages, and perforations, to reintroduce into the images the magical-ritual horizon that was originally removed, and documentation of contemporary rituals still practiced in six regions of Southern Italy, photographed not with a taxonomic intent but as a perceptual and symbolic immersion, capable of making visible what belongs to the believer-participant and not to the outside observer.
The result is an evocative, sensory, and spiritual imagery that restores a sense of complexity to the festivals and communal practices that continue to this day to bring entire communities together and foster a shared sense of belonging.

15/05/2026

⭐️ NEW BOOK ⭐️

Fresh back from 2026, where it won the FE+SK Book Award, Pixels of Memories (بكسلات الذاكرة) is finally here!

Pixels of Memory (2026) by
published by

The book project Pixels of Memories بكسلات الذاكرة combines conceptual reflections on memory, destruction and the invisibility of history. The book takes up this visual language and creates a fragment of memories, image errors and gaps. It becomes a space of testimony and reflection in which viewers must decipher the layers of images and their meaning. Hameed has scoured the entire map of Iraq on Google Maps and compiled an archive of hundreds of screen shots. In Iraq, the 360-degree views are not uploaded to the platform by the company itself, but by private individuals. Hameed is particularly interested in the errors and gaps he comes across during his research.

Indirizzo

Via Del Pigneto 162/e
Rome
00176

Telefono

+393290623131

Sito Web

http://www.leporello-books.com/

Notifiche

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