La Stamperia
A HISTORIC FINE ART PRINTMAKING STUDIO
The origins of Stamperia d’arte Albicocco date back to 1974, when Corrado Albicocco and Federico Santini founded Stamperia AS in Udine, a workshop that distinguished itself from the very beginning through its intense collaboration with contemporary artists and printmakers. Giuseppe Zigaina, Giuseppe Santomaso, Emilio Vedova and Piero Dorazio were among the prominent figures who frequented the studio of the two master printers as early as the beginning of the 1980s.
In 1994, following the conclusion of that experience, Corrado Albicocco founded Stamperia d’arte Albicocco, creating a new institution destined to become one of the most authoritative European studios in the field of contemporary intaglio printmaking.
For more than fifty years, the print studio has represented a privileged place of encounter, research and collaboration with artists, contributing to the creation of hundreds of original graphic works and numerous editions that have shaped the history of Italian and international printmaking over recent decades.
Its history is intertwined with that of some of the leading figures of contemporary art from the second half of the twentieth century to the present day. Over the years, Corrado Albicocco has collaborated with artists such as Emilio Vedova, Jannis Kounellis, Giuseppe Zigaina, Giuseppe Santomaso, Piero Dorazio, Carla Accardi, David Tremlett, Giovanni Frangi, Luca Pignatelli, Marco Petrus, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Safet Zec, Giorgio Griffa, Pablo Atchugarry, and many other internationally renowned artists.
The distinctive quality of Stamperia d’arte Albicocco lies in its ability to combine the rigor of traditional intaglio printmaking with a constant openness to experimentation. The techniques practiced in the studio—etching, aquatint, drypoint, and other metal engraving processes—have their roots in the Renaissance and have remained essentially unchanged to this day. For centuries, the tools, materials, and methods that define the art of printmaking have been handed down through generations of printers and artists.
The challenge that Stamperia d’arte Albicocco embraces every day is to place this historical heritage at the service of contemporary artistic language, transforming ancient techniques into tools capable of interpreting the expressive needs of the present. Every project emerges from a direct dialogue with the artist, in which the printer’s technical expertise becomes an essential instrument for translating the most complex and innovative creative visions onto paper.
Over the years, the studio has developed a recognized specialization in etching, aquatint, drypoint, soft-ground, and carborundum techniques, producing works of exceptional scale and addressing technical challenges that have expanded the expressive possibilities of contemporary printmaking. This continuous dialogue between tradition and innovation has enabled ancient knowledge to be integrated into the most advanced contemporary artistic practices, resulting in works that have broadened the very boundaries of fine art printmaking.
Since 2012, Gianluca Albicocco has worked alongside Corrado in directing the workshop, ensuring the continuity of a body of knowledge built through decades of collaboration with artists, museums, galleries, and collectors.
Today, Stamperia d’arte Albicocco is recognized not only as a place of production, but also as a cultural center dedicated to the promotion of fine art printmaking through exhibitions, publications, lectures, and exhibition projects developed in collaboration with Italian and international institutions.
MAJOR EXHIBITIONS AND INSTITUTIONAL PROJECTS
Over the last several years, the work of Stamperia d’arte Albicocco has been the subject of important exhibitions and retrospectives promoted by public bodies, museums, and cultural institutions.
In 2013, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region dedicated a major exhibition to the history of the studio at Villa Manin in Passariano, presenting more than two hundred prints created by sixty artists and publishing a scholarly catalogue accompanying the project.
In 2014, the Municipality of Maniago organized a large retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Blacksmithing and Cutlery Arts, recognizing the studio’s contribution to the preservation and development of contemporary printmaking.
In 2015, the Municipality of Urbino hosted a retrospective exhibition in the DATA exhibition spaces, paying tribute to Corrado Albicocco’s roots in Urbino and to his long professional career.
Between 2015 and 2016, the Armando Pizzinato Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Pordenone dedicated two major exhibitions to the studio: Abstract Impression and Filando i Remi, the latter focusing on artists’ books produced in collaboration with Electrolux Zanussi.
In 2017, the cycle of twelve Carborundum prints created with Jannis Kounellis was presented at the Central Institute for Graphics in Rome in collaboration with the Kounellis Archive and Bruno Corà, confirming the international significance of the project.
The engravings by Jannis Kounellis produced at Stamperia d’arte Albicocco were also exhibited at Galerie Lelong in Paris and at Casa Testori in Milan, further confirming the international importance of the collaboration between artist and printer.
In 2018, the work carried out with Emilio Vedova was the focus of an exhibition at CAMEC – the Center for Modern and Contemporary Art in La Spezia.
In 2019, the city of Padua dedicated the major exhibition The Image Is Necessary to the studio, curated by Nicola Galvan at Galleria Cavour, featuring works by Emilio Vedova, Jannis Kounellis, Carla Accardi, Giuseppe Santomaso, and other important contemporary masters.
In 2020, the exhibition The Theory of Imprints, curated by Velasco Vitali, presented a selection of masterpieces from the studio within the historic spaces of the Vitali Archives in Bellano on Lake Como. In the same year, Rosazzo Abbey hosted Out of Scale, dedicated to monumental prints created in collaboration with some of the leading contemporary artists.
In 2024, as part of the Zigaina 100 celebrations, the studio inaugurated the exhibition Giuseppe Zigaina – Metamorphosis Between Inks and Anatomies within its own exhibition spaces. Zigaina’s centenary also coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of Corrado Albicocco’s career, and the exhibition paid tribute to the artist who profoundly influenced the direction of his work.
Also in 2024, Stamperia d’arte Albicocco played a leading role in the exhibition Giuseppe Zigaina. Prints, Editions and Artists’ Books, hosted by the Central Institute for Graphics in Rome, Italy’s most important institution dedicated to the preservation, study, and promotion of printmaking and graphic arts.
Organized in collaboration with Stamperia d’arte Albicocco, the Zigaina Archive, and the Municipality of Cervignano del Friuli, the exhibition celebrated the centenary of the artist’s birth through a selection of prints, editions, and artists’ books that testify to the central role he played in the history of contemporary printmaking.
The collaboration with the Central Institute for Graphics also developed through a series of initiatives dedicated to the dissemination and practice of intaglio techniques. Corrado and Gianluca Albicocco were invited to work within the Institute’s historic print workshop during important exhibitions, conducting workshops and live printing demonstrations for exhibitions dedicated to Luca Pignatelli and Giovanni Frangi.
On the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to Giuseppe Zigaina, Stamperia d’arte Albicocco was also invited to present a public demonstration of printmaking techniques, confirming the strong relationship of esteem and collaboration established with Italy’s leading institution for graphic arts. These invitations represent significant recognition of the studio’s role as a center of excellence in contemporary intaglio printmaking.
In 2025, Stamperia d’arte Albicocco was featured at Tipoteca Italiana in Cornuda with the exhibition Dream, Memory, Matter, an exhibition project dedicated to the history, processes, and collaborations that have characterized more than fifty years of activity. Through printing matrices, artworks, artists’ books, and archival materials, the exhibition explored the dialogue between contemporary art and the artisanal knowledge of fine art printmaking, highlighting the role of Stamperia d’arte Albicocco as a place of research, experimentation, and excellence in graphic production.
Also in 2025, the exhibition Painting Through Print. Large-Scale Prints from Stamperia d’arte Albicocco was one of the flagship events of the Palinsesti cultural program in San Vito al Tagliamento.
Alongside its institutional activities, the studio has organized numerous exhibitions within its own gallery space in Udine, dedicated, among others, to Emilio Vedova, Jannis Kounellis, Safet Zec, Giovanni Frangi, Luca Pignatelli, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Giuseppe Zigaina, David Tremlett, Giorgio Griffa, and Marco Petrus.
A TRADITION LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
Today, Stamperia d’arte Albicocco continues its activity as a production workshop, research center, and place of dialogue among artists, institutions, and collectors.
Every work produced carries with it knowledge passed down through generations, a culture of materials refined over more than half a century of activity, and a vision that regards printmaking not as reproduction, but as an authentic original work of art.
In an artistic landscape increasingly oriented toward speed and the dematerialization of the image, Stamperia d’arte Albicocco continues to embody the values of time, craftsmanship, and artisanal excellence in the service of contemporary art.
Recognized as one of the leading institutions in the field of contemporary fine art printmaking, Stamperia d’arte Albicocco has attracted the attention of major national and international media outlets, including TG1 Rai, Venerdì di Repubblica, Left, and the renowned Korean magazine STYLE H. The work carried out by Corrado and Gianluca Albicocco alongside sculptor Pablo Atchugarry was also featured in the documentary The Dove of Peace, broadcast by Sky Arte, in which the two master printers were interviewed about the creative process and collaboration that gave rise to the artist’s graphic works.