RRome, May 15th. (askanews) – Long lines of fans crowded outside the Dalì Hall of the Cervantes Institute in Piazza Navona in Rome to meet Maestro Altan, who came to inaugurate the exhibition “Mafalda and La Pimpa”, which until 11 July 2026 exhibits the reproductions (in Artist’s Edition style) of the strips of the raven-haired rebellious little girl created by the Argentine cartoonist Quino and the original drawings by Pimpa, for the first time together.
“It’s a surprise for me too, I don’t think they have ever met in life. But perhaps they have in common that they care passionately about the world around them. The two worlds are completely different, but there is something that unites them in this”, the Maestro told askanews.
Altan inaugurates the exhibition Mafalda and La Pimpa: «They share a passion for the world»
The exhibition, created by Arf! The Capital’s Comics Festival, now in its 12th edition, and the Istituto Cervantes of Rome (in collaboration with Franco Cosimo Panini, Quipos Srl, Caminito Sas literary agency), opened with a talk which saw protagonist Francesco Tullio-Altan, 83 years old: like him, his cartoons do not age, ‘because the world does not change’, said the satirist, while “the destructive power of satire today slides on” the leaders of the world, he added sharply.
His Pimpa, on the other hand, always remains very sweet: «The Pimpa I didn’t think of her as a character to publish. AND born for fun with my little daughter. I know that Pimpa is very curious and in my opinion curious people are also generous, because they want to get to know others, to know how other people’s things are going and this is what Pimpa is, very generous”, he added.
On his relationship with his Argentine colleague he recalled: «I know that Quino was a very witty person, very attentive to others. We were quite good friends many years ago.”
«What a thrill to handle the original plates»
The exhibition is curated by Stefano Piccoli, aka S3Keno, and Daniele Bonomo, alias Gud, both founders of the Arf! Festival. The latter told us: “It was a very exciting installation and curation, because Quino with Mafalda and Altan with Pimpa for many of us, in particular for me and Stefano Piccolo who are the curators, they represented growth also personal within the world of comics. I remember as a child reading the Corriere dei Piccoli and inside I found the stories of Pimpa and I looked for the newspapers and magazines where there was Mafalda and other strips dedicated to the little ones. Finding myself now handling the original drawings of these artists was a wonderful feeling.”
Service by Stefania Cuccato
Editing by Carla Brandolini
askanews images (archive photo Quino, Altan and Coco, 1977, by Luciano Brambilla)
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