Palimpsests is an exhibition format conceived to showcase and progressively make accessible the Cerruti Collection’s precious library holdings, one of the least known yet most surprising components of the collection. Through two annual presentations entrusted to the same curator, the project brings extraordinary books, selected around a specific theme, into the rooms of the Villa, placing them in dialogue with the works of art, furnishings and atmosphere of the house museum. Palimpsests stages a narrative framework capable of transforming the rare book into a visual, spatial and imaginative experience.

Palimpsests #2: Perfect Binding is the second exhibition curated by Luca Cena, antiquarian bookseller, cultural communicator and co-founder of White Lands Rare Books, a cultural space dedicated to rare books, first editions, antique maps and prints.

The exhibition explores the connection between Francesco Federico Cerruti’s entrepreneurial activity and his passion for the book as an art object. As an entrepreneur, he revolutionised the bookbinding industry by introducing the perfect binding technique to Italy and producing millions of volumes; as a collector, however, he sought out its exact opposite with the same dedication: unique, precious and irreplaceable copies, enhanced by exquisite handcrafted bindings.

Through a selection of exceptional books and bindings, the exhibition reveals how, for Cerruti, bookbinding was far more than a functional element: it was a threshold between the outside world and the world preserved within the pages—an art form capable of protecting, enticing and anticipating the experience of reading.