At the roots of “fotoromanzo”: the comics romance novel of “Grand Hôtel”

Abstract

The weekly magazine Grand Hôtel, published in Milan by the Del Duca brothers beginning June 29, 1946, is known to be the flagship publication of Italian “fotoromanzo”. The breeding ground for the “fotoromanzo” is set up by adjuvant mixed genres, including the drawn romance novel. Precisely in Grand Hôtel, between 1946 and 1970, the drawn romance novel proceeds to an appropriation of cinematic narrative and imagery, recoding them through the formal and expressive resources of comics. It is a verbovisual invention that represents one of the most astounding manifestations of Italian reconstruction, in which entrepreneurial ingenuity, unprejudiced artistry and the pedagogical inclination to integrate a wide sector of the citizenry into the horizon of national life show to converge. For the first time, in such an unambiguous and massive way, comics are targeting young adult women from both working-class and middle-class backgrounds. This article outlines the series of graphic novels that intertwines, on the pages of the magazine, with the series of “fotoromanzi”: the specificity of the comics’ contribution to the new editorial product and to the new formula of mixed narration emerges.