Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani is opening the event at the Farnesina today to announce Italy’s participation as the Guest of Honour at the 2026 Guadalajara International Book Fair.
“Last year, Italy and Mexico celebrated 150 years of diplomatic relations. Our participation in the Guadalajara Book Fair is therefore a confirmation of the solid bilateral ties between our countries and represents an important showcase for Italian publishing in the strategic Latin American market,” commented Tajani. He also highlighted the government’s efforts to support the internationalisation of Italian publishing, which is one of the key pillars of growth diplomacy.
With over 900,000 visitors and more than 2,700 publishers from 64 countries attending the 2024 edition, the Guadalajara Book Fair is one of the most significant publishing trade fairs globally and the leading event in the Spanish-speaking world. Italy’s presence as Guest of Honour—its second time since the 2008 edition—will place the country at the heart of a market with over 300 million potential readers, whose interest in Italian publishing is rapidly growing.
Italian publishing, the country’s leading cultural industry, generates approximately €3.5 billion in revenue and employs around 70,000 people. It ranks fourth in Europe and sixth worldwide. Over the past five years, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has provided around 1,600 incentives for the translation of Italian works into foreign languages, including more than 170 into Spanish.
The presentation will also feature speeches from the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli; the President and Director of the Guadalajara Book Fair, Trinidad Padilla and Marisol Schulz; the President of Italian Trade Agency, Matteo Zoppas; the Mexican Ambassador to Italy, Carlos Garcia de Alba; and the President of the Italian Publishers Association, Innocenzo Cipolletta.
