Collections
Three editorial paths, one passion for great literature.
Contemporanea
The Contemporanea series emerges as a narrative and critical workshop designed to investigate the myriad facets of modernity, with a primary focus on the fiction of our time. While Colonnese’s historical collections look to the past with philological rigor, Contemporanea plunges its hands into the living – and often raw and contradictory – reality of the present day. These pages give voice to "frontier" writers such as Peppe Lanzetta, who skillfully transforms suburban hardship into visceral poetry, and the visionary pen of Michele Serio, who challenges genre boundaries between the grotesque and the noir. It serves as a compass for navigating the chaos of everyday life, consistently prioritizing literary quality and intellectual independence. To read a title from this series is to accept a challenge: to look at Naples (and the world) without filters, caught between wounded beauty and stubborn redemption.
I Nuovi Trucioli
nspired by the wisdom of artisan workshops, where wood shavings are the tangible sign of dedicated handcraft, this collection gathers the most vivid fragments of Neapolitan and Southern Italian history and culture. It is not merely non-fiction, but a collective narrative made of anecdotes, minor chronicles, biographies of eccentric characters, and urban secrets that often escape official history. Every page pulses with the life of the alleys, the aroma of coffee, and the sound of the sea, offering an unprecedented perspective on the city of Naples. It is an invitation to explore the 'behind the scenes' of a millennial civilization, where erudition blends with popular passion. The series is designed for those who want to dig beneath the surface, for those who love to get lost in the details, and for those who believe that the true identity of a place resides in its most hidden stories and its most authentic, genuine protagonists.
Le Avventure di Clio
These accessible volumes, accessible to the general public, introduce Naples, its millennia-long history, and its figures as important protagonists not of a local, but of a European, event who have made an extraordinary contribution to its civilization. To boldly confront the adventures of Clio, the Muse of History, bringing this form of knowledge—while open to perspectives and conceptual and methodological tools from other disciplines—back to the center of interpreting the unprecedented reality in which we live.
Le Bussole
Illustrated historical and artistic guides, a tool for orienting yourself in the cultural heritage of Naples and Campania.
Lo Specchio di Silvia
This collection represents the beating heart and the most intimate soul of Colonnese Editore, serving as a true literary den of curiosities. The name itself evokes an image of reflection and discovery, where the reader is invited to look within through the words of forgotten authors, newcomers, or gems never before translated. Each volume is a small editorial jewel, crafted with care in its graphics and materials, containing aphorisms, short essays, rare stories, and precious texts ranging from universal literature to the most hidden traditions. Reading a title from this series means embarking on a journey through time, rediscovering the pleasure of slow reading and a wonder for small things. It is a collection for bibliophiles and dreamers—for those who seek not just information in books, but an aesthetic and intellectual emotion capable of illuminating daily life with the light of rarity and classical elegance. Refined paperbacks, distinctive and rare texts by well-known and obscure authors, anonymous or uncertain, from the eighteenth century to the present. Bizarre topics or those of extreme gravity. And also, the revival of the book as a precious yet simple artifact.
Parthenope
This collection is a true tribute to the mother-city, a profound journey into the heart of Naples through the centuries. It does not speak only of places, but of eternal symbols like the Smorfia, the cult of San Gennaro, or the birth of urban myths that still define the Neapolitan soul today. Each volume of Parthenope is an editorial act of love that seeks to capture the intangible: That blend of sacred and profane, of noble and plebeian, that makes Naples unique in the world. The series delves into the mysteries of folk traditions and the folds of a millennial history that never ceases to amaze, offering the reader a privileged key to the secrets of a land that is, at once, both paradise and labyrinth. It is the ideal series for those who wish to own a piece of Naples in their library, curated with the attentive eye of those who know that memory is the only treasure that never fades.
Passaggi
This collection represents the ideal bridge between historical memory and the pulse of the present a path traced for those who love to wander through different eras without ever losing their way. In Passaggi, the book becomes a witness to crucial transitions, gathering essays, reflections, and narratives that explore the changing customs, ideas, and both the urban and human landscape. It is a series dedicated to those who observe the world with a critical yet enamored eye, seeking to capture that magical moment where the past slips into the future. Each volume is an invitation to slow your pace to catch the details of a Naples and a Southern Italy in constant metamorphosis, where every street, every face, and every tradition are fragments of a broader conversation about our collective identity. Reading these works means accepting the challenge of complexity, guided by authors who know how to read between the lines of history to reveal the secret passages connecting who we were to who we will become.
Varia
The 'Varia' series by Colonnese Editore is a mosaic of stories, a workshop of curiosities where memory meets beauty. Created to house unconventional volumes, it ranges from local micro-history to international literature, and from archival treasures to biographies of icons such as Oscar Wilde. Each title is a journey through stories and emotions, bridging the most authentic Naples with cosmopolitan horizons. These books are designed for the discerning and curious reader – volumes that reclaim the past to illuminate the present. An eclectic collection that celebrates the book as an object of art and a tool for discovery and memory, blending documentary rigor with narrative charm.