EDICOLA NEWS: REVIEWS nr. 115
stickers: 685 (1-672, MC1-MC8, chest stickers 1-5)
album: distributed free of charge in the areas involved
packets: € 0.50 (6 stickers)
comment: come on, Wolves! This beautiful animal is not only the symbol of the Avellino sports teams but of all Irpinia, an area of Southern Italy full of history and traditions. Many have passed through these parts over the centuries: Romans, Etruscans, Normans, French, Spanish, Arabs, with monuments and palaces of clear reference also from the medieval and Renaissance periods.
Our heroes Enea and the dog Orazio, already met in the albums on the Vesuvian treasures and those of lower Lazio (see reviews), this time go far and wide for Irpinia. The area is characterized by many villages and small towns, inhabited even by a few thousand people, nature is perhaps less dominant than other parts of Italy, but as small and big stories, nothing is missing.
Not even the great characters, so much so that the album opens with the meeting of our heroes even with Virgil (yes, he, the author of the Aeneid), a great connoisseur of the places having spent a good part of his life there. Page after page, country after country, it is incredible to note how many different populations have left their mark, even to think that Irpinia can be a valid example of the history of the entire Mediterranean.
The peculiarity is how much these small villages are still inhabited, in fact in many cases they are synonymous with belonging, thanks to the many religious festivals and events that remember their history. Another interesting aspect, especially present in the second part of the album, is the great gastronomic tradition of the area, certainly better to visit it not while you are following a diet!
Most of the stickers are real photographs of the various monuments, palaces and churches; unfortunately the adventurous stickers of the comic that retraces the album are not many, a few more would have been good. Unlike other albums, some pages almost seem like a repeat; it is clear that we cannot invent what is not there, but perhaps some villages and towns could be grouped together on the same page, so as to limit the very high number of stickers on the album. On the other hand, the excellent didactic work is so well done that perhaps cutting parts would have made everything less exhaustive.
In addition to Virgil, during the album we find other famous historical figures, especially Francesco De Sanctis, a professor and politician to whom the Aula Magna of the University of Naples is also dedicated. De Sanctis accompanies our heroes through different pages and villages.
Last pages for the old and new main city of Irpinia: the historic Atripalda and the current Avellino, eight pages for a nice guided tour of the various interesting aspects of the capital, including sporting brackets to remember the Partenio Stadium and the teams of football and basketball.
Album created thanks to the sponsorship of the Mondo Camerette shops, to which the last eight numbered stickers MC are dedicated. Finally, the five chest stickers that do not find space in the album, but serve to complete some of the many initiatives aimed at schools.
The album has been released since the end of 2019 so we hope the kids and schools have had time to get to know it before the beginning of this difficult period. It can be found in the province of Avellino, but can be ordered from the publisher at the email raccoltatesorivesuviani@gmail.com
Final judgment: 8/10
(EN)