Barbanera Explained

Barbanera Almanac and Calendar
Frequency:	Annual
Category:	Almanacs, weather, astronomy, calendar, gardening, cooking, moon phases
Publisher:	Editoriale Campi
Founded:	1762
Country:	Italy
Based:	Spello
Language:	Italian
Website:	http://www.barbanera.it

Barbanera is a famous Italian almanac, printed for the first time in 1762^[1] and still published yearly today.

Contents

Since the first edition, the Barbanera has been issued in the form of a wall calendar and paperback almanac. In addition to the calendar for that year, it traditionally proposes weather forecasts, information about lunar phases and the stars, curious facts, proverbs, gardening tips and advice for a healthy lifestyle.All contents are inspired by the figure of a legendary astronomer and philosopher, depicted in different editions with a long black beard.^[2]

Success over the years

Because of its popularity, Barbanera is referred to by the most respected Italian dictionaries as a synonym for almanac. An essential, both secular and religious guide for generations of Italians, it has carried out the task of spreading knowledge in the fields of technology and agriculture throughout the centuries. Gabriele D'Annunzio defined it "the flower of all time and the wisdom of nations".^[3]

Barbanera in the Unesco Memory of the World

Through the collection of almanacs conserved in the Fondazione Barbanera 1762,^[4] Barbanera has been part of the documentary heritage of humanity since 2015, referred to by UNESCO in the Memory of the World Register as "symbol of a literary genre, which helped to create the mass culture and identity-making heritage of entire nations, up until the advent of more modern forms of mass communication".^[5]

Notes and References

1. Some sources, like the Treccani dictionary, indicate 1743 as the first year of publication. The oldest edition today, conserved in the historical archive of the Fondazione Barbanera 1762, is a single sheet printed in Foligno by Pompeo Campana and dated 1762, which reports the calendar of that year and an initial prediction signed by Barbanera, already known as "famous", as highlighted by Ivo Picchiarelli in the essay The first steps in an Italian tradition. I primi passi di una tradizione italiana. The oldest Barbanera almanacs folio, in the Fondazione Barbanera 1762 (by), Barbanera 1762, Editoriale Campi, Spello, 2012, p. 72.
2. For a brief history and description of the Barbanera almanac and calendar, see the mentioned Barbanera 1762, published by Editoriale Campi in 2012.
3. See the letter from Gabriele D'Annunzio to Don G. Fava dated 24 February 1934 quoted in Attilio Mazza, D'Annunzio e l'occulto, Edizioni Mediterranee, Rome, 1995, p. 29. The letter is conserved in the archive of Fondazione Vittoriale degli Italiani (Personal Archive, c. 31817).
4. The Memory of the World Register has included the collection of 356 Barbanera almanacs from 1762 to 1962 among its documents, which are conserved at the Fondazione Barbanera 1762 in Spello, Umbria. See also the bibliographical opac www.bibliotecabarbanera.it (last visit on 3/12/2016) and the Barbanera digital library to browse the almanacs protected by UNESCO (last visit on 26/11/2019).
5. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registered-heritage/registered-heritage-page-2/collection-of-barbanera-almanacs/ See the Unesco, Memory of the World Programme website