From January 10th to February 10th, 2025, in continuity with the activities promoted for the year 2024, the year of Italian roots in the world, Italea Lombardia in collaboration with the municipality of Cernobbio proposes the exhibition Roots | Radici inspired by the eponymous graphic novel signed by Bruna Martini.
8 panels from the book arrive at Villa Bernasconi accompanied by a selection of objects found during years of research in archives, libraries, registry and land offices, antique shops, in Italy and Argentina.

Exhibition included in the entrance ticket.

The Year of Italian Roots in the world was promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to develop a tourist offer dedicated to travelers of roots,
that is, to the over eighty million Italian descendants and Italians abroad who want to rediscover the places from which their ancestors emigrated.
Villa Bernasconi opens to the public with an invitation "Come visit me, I have stories to tell": a museum that is first and foremost a talking house, therefore perfect ingredients to make it the ideal place to host the testimony of a "roots journey" concerning the Larian territory.

In Roots | Radici, Bruna Martini guides us, through illustrated panels and color suggestions, on a journey to discover the story of her ancestor Gracco Cornelio Rondalli, who left Calolzio in
the province of Lecco in the distant 1915 and whose memory has been completely forgotten by the family. Bruna moves like an investigator, bringing to light information that tells the story of her great-great-grandfather as well as that of millions of Italians who, like him, left Italy to seek their fortune elsewhere.

In a world that has always had to deal with the phenomenon of uprooting and the construction of new identities, Bruna Martini's graphic memoir goes from personal story to collective tale, in a journey that connects past, present, and future and prompts reflection on the themes of heritage and connection to places.