We are a printing company based in Verona specialized in printed illustrated books for children. We like to think about us as a factory of stories.

We’ve been collaborating with the most important illustrators and publishers of children’s literature all over the world for more than 50 years.

Care for detail, obsession for the color rendering, and experimenting with the new printing techniques are in our DNA.

We strongly believe that it’s very important to find the right color shade, the best color rendering, the best binding to give value to each book. Only in that way stories can reach the heart of our most demanding and precious customers: the readers. 

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of printed books from 1971

A color Story

We started in the early 70’s working almost exclusively with foreign Publishers.

But even during the first years we had been lucky to collaborate with famous authors and international illustrators, thanks to whom we laid solid foundations on which, then, we’ve been building our own story.

Among them, we had the pleasure to start immediately working closely with Stepan Zavrel by printing many of the books of his publishing house Bohem Press, and the volumes part of the first International Exhibition of Children Illustration of Sarmede.

We’ve been talking a lot here about this collaboration, hence become a real friendship. Zavrel was one of the international illustrators who used to come and visit the company for the “ok to print” (visto si stampi), a tradition we still continue by hosting publishers and illustrators from all over the world in our production department (you can learn more about these meetings following the hashtag #lamagiadelvistosistampi)

At the old headquarters in Corso Milano - from left to right: the founders Giorgio Aldegheri and Franco Armano, the printer Bianchi e Domenico Fasoli, masters in the Italian printing culture from the earliest times.
Elmer the patchwork elephant

Besides printing for Bohem Press, in those years we had printed – as well as we do now – for Klaus Flugge’s Andersen Press: together we created the amazing books of David McKee, father of Elmer, the patchwork elephant.

We printed – as well as we keep doing now – the great Tony Ross, Satoshi Kitamura and Max Velthuijs.

For almost 50 years we have been lucky to closely work with Pastel and print ones of the most interesting pieces of their collection, such as I am so Handsome and I am so Strong by the famous Mario Ramos.

In addition, how could we forget about Eric Carle and his The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

In a way…we like to include ourselves amongst the founding fathers of illustrated books in Italy! Today we print illustrated books, non-fiction books for the best both Italian and international Publishers, giving support and advise in all the phases of the project.

Plus, we really enjoy telling about Italian publishing and sharing our knowledge about the processes and dynamics of this sector. On our social pages we discuss such issues, we interview different publishing houses and share all these useful contents through posts and videos every week.

If you would like to stay updated, follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn e Instagram. If you would like to take a look at our works, click on Portfolio.

Our philosophy

From A to Z.

This is not just a pun on our name. It’s our mantra, constantly repeated throughout this website.

What does it mean?

To us, from A to Z means completeness, wholeness.

That wholeness characterizing our relationship with clients, to whom we give full support in each phase of the printing.

As whole and total must always be the quality for us, the highest without compromise.

Approval of Paola Vitale’s "Who Will It Be?" by Camelozampa and illustrated by Rossana Bossù – from left to right: Roberto Girlanda, our technical manager, Francesca Segato (Camelozampa), Nadia Masiero and our printer Daniele Guglielmi

Books have an exceptional, at times even magic power.

They are food for thoughts and balm for the spirit. They heal our soul and, in the children’s hands, they’re able to determine who they will become.

For this, we strongly believe that making books is a responsibility. A responsibility towards the readers but also towards both the authors and editors who hand us their stories. Our commitment, day after day, is to transfer the Author’s thought magnified and promoted by the Editor, which – through us – will then reach the reader’s hands.

We’re experts. We’re prepared. We’re passionate. But above all, we love books. An absolute love.

A love, in short, from A to Z.

Our team

At Grafiche AZ we think about the company as a living organism, formed by as many different cells as the team members.

What we intend to build is a team who’s not moving for itself but for the constant growth and advantage of all members, for the client but also…for the world.

(We’ve said it before: making books is a responsibility!).

Ours is a “long-standing” team. Many of our members have been with us for many years, something we are really proud of.

Many years working together reflect, hence, our stability and experience:

we’re people who know well what to do, how to do it and when. Experience stands also for high expertise, the same that the new recruits are going to inherit, who will bring fresh techniques and new knowledge into Grafiche AZ, contributing to the growth of the company.

A virtuous circle where new ideas germinate on an already rich soil, becoming nutrients for the company and the people working with us.

We would like to think that all the positive values we believe in can spread through our books, and will then reach the readers.

Come and visit us at our headquarters. We will introduce you to the people of our staff and you will be able to see yourself how special we are.

In the picture, Cecilia Marcon’s Valmirtilla bookstore in San Martino Buon Albergo (Verona). A special place that hosts many of the books we’ve printed, and that we often “visit” for events and presentations of books