RADICI: the editorial project narrating 80 years of UNIC – Italian Tanneries
“There are stories that do not simply ask to be told. They want to be observed up close, for their constant ability to adapt and evolve.”
One of these stories is our story: the story of UNIC – Italian Tanneries.
Established on 9 April 1946, UNIC turns 80 and is celebrating this anniversary by publishing, in 2026, a monograph that, even before being an editorial product, is a project.
RADICI “does not aim to be an account of a sequence of events, but rather the testimony of a dense weave made up of people and generations, relationships and expertise, insights and choices, strategies and crucial turning points”.
Based on careful historiographical research and analysis of an exceptionally rich body of archives and period documents, RADICI explores “the depth and widespread presence of the Italian tanning industry and its forms of representation”, in the light of how they have been able to “project themselves beyond time, redefining themselves, remaining relevant and proving modern at every stage of their journey”.
RADICI sets itself a very broad objective: to go beyond commemoration and historical narrative, outlining the trajectory of the present and future of Italian tanning and its representative system through 35 interviews with entrepreneurs personally involved in the life of the association:
Fabrizio Nuti (Nuti Ivo Group); Alessandro Iliprandi (Bonaudo); Gianni Russo (Russo di Casandrino); Graziano Balducci (Antiba); Rino, Barbara e Matteo Mastrotto (Rino Mastrotto Group); Giuseppe Valter Peretti (Gruppo Peretti); Piero Rosati (Incas); Mirko Lucio Balsemin (Nice); Marco Blasio (Conceria Tris); Barbara Boschetti (Conceria Laba); Massimo Caponi (Gruppo Conciario CMC International); Serena Castellani (Sciarada Industria Conciaria); Gianfranco Dalle Mese (Conceria Montebello); Giancarlo Dani (Dani); Mario De Maio (DMD Solofra); Michele De Michele (Dean); Luigi De Vita (Deviconcia); Nicola Dusini (Dupelco); Bernardo Finco (Finco 1865); Roberto Lupi (BCN Concerie); Felice Maffei (Carisma); Fabrizio Masoni (Masoni Industria Conciaria); Chiara Mastrotto (Gruppo Mastrotto); Michele Matteoli (Cuoificio Otello); Chicca Miramonti (Conceria Gaiera Giovanni); Francesco, Rosarita e Barbara Morletto (Industria Conciaria Vallorco); Achille Presot (Conceria Pietro Presot); Luca Pretto (Conceria Pasubio); Giorgio Tempesti (Tempesti); Valerio Testai (Gruppo Vecchia Toscana); Leonardo Traversi (La Patrie); Nobile Vignola (Conceria Vignola Nobile); Giuseppe Volpi (Volpi Concerie).
Their voices, interwoven with the story of the association and of the professionals who coordinate and enhance its services from within, express “the value of a shared responsibility that contributes to the sector’s planning capacity, safeguarding its values and accompanying its change”.
The narrative of these eighty years thus becomes the measure of an industrial, cultural and representative continuity that began long before 1946 and reaches 2026, framing it as a milestone in time rather than as a point of arrival. RADICI, therefore, are no longer merely a symbol or a metaphor: they become the hidden, solid and widespread framework of a system of skills and companies that grows by looking upwards and building its own future.
RADICI also become the graphic symbol of the uniqueness of Italian tanning and of its reference material: leather. A living and natural material, no two hides are alike. For this reason, each cover of the RADICI volume is different from the others and contains a fragment of the logo, which reinterprets, in stylised form, a tree whose RADICI extend deep into the past and into its own tradition, while its foliage reaches upwards: towards the future.
Click here to read the browsable online version of RADICI (ITA).
RADICI is a project by UNIC – Italian Tanneries.
Editorial coordination: Silvia Malerba.
Texts: Luca Fumagalli.
Photography: Luca Fumagalli, Silvia Malerba.
Graphic design and layout: Gianluca Losio.
