Michele Rapisarda, collector of paper and graphic works, dies in Milan

Michele Rapisarda, a Milanese corporate executive and passionate collector of printed paper and minor graphic materials of everyday use but high cultural value, has died. His collection of over 21,000 items, built over 40 years, includes 70 types of paper, many themed (especially food, forming an embryonic food museum). He donated his ex libris collection (about 1,000 pieces) to the Centro APICE of the University of Milan in 2004, and a mountain-themed nucleus was acquired by the Civic Library of Turin in 2005. Friend and curator Andrea Tomasetig recalls Rapisarda as curious, never satisfied with discoveries, able to open new research fronts while focusing on minor graphics and illustrated everyday papers. Rapisarda became a scholar of his own collection, studying materials in their historical, sociological, and illustration history context, making them relevant again. His collection is now publicly available as a data and image bank.