Anna Onesti's Mulberry Paper Kites and Diaries at Grottaferrata Abbey for GEP 2026

Key facts

• Exhibition 'Anna Onesti – Nuovi Cieli, Nuove Carte' opens 26–27 September 2026 at Biblioteca Statale del Monumento Nazionale di Grottaferrata for Giornate Europee del Patrimonio (GEP 2026).
• GEP 2026 theme: 'Patrimonio a rischio: rivivere, resistere, reimmaginare'; the event coincides with celebrations for San Nilo, patron of Grottaferrata.
• Onesti's works use paper made from mulberry tree bark, including kites with painted mulberry paper, bamboo sticks and cotton threads based on Korean pangp'ae-yŏn and Japanese edo types.
• Works are displayed in the Loggia Cinquecentesca and the Biblioteca's Sala Conferenze, with an installation inspired by bird flight.
• The 'Con Grazia' series pays homage to Grazia Marchianò, who donated two paintings by her father Giuseppe Marchianò and Albanian studies texts to the Biblioteca in 2023.
• A year before, Marchianò gave the library of her husband, philosopher and historian of religions Elémire Zolla, to Accademia Vivarium Novum at Villa Falconieri, Frascati.
• The exhibition also highlights the Biblioteca's contemporary art collection, conceived by Onesti when she was Funzionario Restauratore Conservatore until 2022.
• The show runs until 30 October 2026, Monday–Friday 9:30–13:00, free entry without reservation; guided visits 26–27 September 10:00–14:00.
• The title references Paolo Di Paolo's story collection 'Nuovi Cieli, Nuove Carte' (Empiria, 2004; new edition Giulio Perrone Editore, 2025).
• The Abbazia Greca di San Nilo, founded in 1004 by Greek monks led by San Nilo di Rossano, had a paleography and miniature school and a late-19th-century typography; two paper mills built on its land around the 1630s operated until 1893 and are now abandoned.
• Anna Onesti was born in Rocca di Papa (RM), studied at the Accademie delle Belle Arti of Rome, Urbino and Turin (Scenografia 1978, Decorazione 1984), and worked as Restauratore Conservatore at the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica and the Grottaferrata Biblioteca until 2022.