Tipografia Grifani-Donati

Grifani – Donati printeres in Città di Castello

The Città di Castello Grifani-Donati printing company is situated along Corso Cavour, in the historic city center, in the premises above the former Saint Paul church dating back to 1237. The printing company, halfway between a museum and a cultural institution, is also a place where visitors can admire perfectly working antique machinery, view thematic exhibitions and cultural initiatives, and learn techniques that woud otherwise be lost.

 

The Grifani Donati printing company, founded in 1799, is unique among so many historic companies to be still active today. It has become in recent years a compulsory reference point for to promote the typographical heritage of Città di Castello.

The Graphic Arts Museum satisfies the demand of protecting the immense collected cultural heritage, not by an exhibition of obsolete machinery in a museum, but by keeping active and productive the only company that still uses today the productive processes that made the city famous in the last century.

Gianni Ottaviani, the present owner and descendant of the Donati family, share his enthusiasm and welcomes yout to visit "his" museum. He shows visitors several printing processes following ancient procedures: the traditional letterpress, lithography, xylography,  etchings and engravings, combining graphic work with education. At the end Gianni will deliver to visitors the works created during the visit.

Along Corso Cavour, few meters from where the printing company is located, you can purchase local gastronomy products. First of all truffles, available in all seasons as fresh or preserved and available in different sauces, and then the "Mazzafegato", poor relative of the sausage, extracted from the so called "cleaning of the work bench", recently become a "Slow Food" Presidium. Cooked ofver the embers or dried, it maintains all its taste with the unmistakable perfume of spices and above all of the fennel flower. Enjoy your meal!

 

Grifani-Donati typography

Città di Castello (Perugia), Corso Cavour 4, 06012

Open on Tuesday and Friday 9 am – 12.30 pm / 3 pm – 7 pm, on Saturday 9 am – 1 pm

on Sunday guided visits by prior booking only

Closed on Mondays

www.tipografiagrifanidonati.it

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