A gag on typical Italian gestures capable of speaking to the whole world. The reference was to the Supplement to the Italian Dictionary, first published in 1963
It was one of the most significant moments of inauguration ceremony of Milan Cortina. The one where everyone at San Siro couldn’t help but smile. The moment when Brenda Lodigianiwith the microphone turned off and the hands at the center of the scenespoke to millions of people without uttering a word.
An ironic (and cultured) tribute to Bruno Munaricapable of transforming a small classic of Italian design and visual thought into a gag capable of speaking to the whole world.
The reference was clear: il Supplement to the Italian dictionary, published for the first time in 1963 and now republished by Corraini Edizioni. A book that studies and catalogs non-verbal communication, the daily gestures with which we express ourselves “without speaking”: hand movements, body postures, facial expressions that tell much more than a thousand words.
«We are very proud to have worked with Munari and to continue to work with his heirs to continue to make his work known throughout the world – says Pietro Corraini to Corriere della Sera – Bruno Munari manages to talk about complex things with simplicity, he treats gestures as a folkloristic element but approaches it with great rigor. The “Supplement to the Italian dictionary” is capable of being identifying, light, fun and profound at the same time. For this reason it will always be relevant and it seems natural to see it mentioned in an international context such as the Olympic ceremony.”
Munari observes those gestures with the gaze of the designer and the irony of the narrator. It describes them, orders them, illustrates them, showing how they often arise in local contexts and then become shared heritage, recognizable from North to South and, in many cases, well beyond the Italian borders.
In its 118 pages, illustrated by photographs by Aldo Ballo, the Supplement explains how a finger placed against the lips signifies silence, or how the gesture of the horns, “of conjuration”, serves to “cast the curse to the ground”.
Munari does not trivialize everyday life: he observes it with respect, analyzes it with precision, presents it with lightness.
The work has its roots in even older research: the first great collection of Italian gesturescreated by the canon Andrea de Jorio and published in Naples in 1832. From there Munari starts again, adds new signs, also introduces foreign ones that have now entered our bodily vocabulary – such as the famous American “OK” – up to the various editions of the volume, reprinted dozens of times and translated all over the world.
This is therefore the miracle that took place at San Siro: a profoundly Italian language which, precisely because it is corporeal and immediate, was understandable even to those who do not know a word of our language.
date:2026-02-07 19:35:00
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