About a month ago Giorgio Nada passed away: the only true “Automotive” publisher in Italy

We want to remember him again in the 90s, when from Milan together with his son Stefano, he came to Modena specifically to participate in the inauguration of the new Yearbook “Menu dei Motori” at the Lauro Restaurant, together with the various protagonists of the Modena auto world, with whom, as a fine connoisseur of the car, he was certainly at ease.

The entrepreneur with a passion for engines
On 6 May the publisher GIORGIO NADA disappeared.
We who worked with him, or rather, lived daily for over twenty years in the publishing house and beyond, have made it clear in the eyes today, sitting behind his desk to define a contract, to make an income statement , to discuss – often with the firmness of the entrepreneur but always with the elegance and friendliness of the gentleman – with authors, journalists and with the interlocutors who in many years of career have presented themselves in his office, first in the center of Milan , then in Vimodrone, the current headquarters of the publishing house.
We often sat in front of that desk and from that “front row”, from that privileged perspective, we learned – over the years – to know a man animated by authentic passion and dedication for his work, a man who loved comparison , the dialectic, always listening, ready to give green light, without too many preambles, to an editorial project that had convinced him immediately, but also to pursue a book that perhaps the “market” would have badly digested, but that he liked and therefore it had to be done.

Giorgio Nada, the publisher of the world of motors, four and two wheels, par excellence, the man who had started his professional career by managing a bookshop in via Ulrico Hoepli in Milan, how to say, the street that bears the name of one of the most enlightened publishers of all time, he had great courage to focus, at the end of the sixties, on a sector like that of motor publishing that, at the time, could not have been more niche.
At least in Italy, the vintage car was taking its first steps, but the future publisher, who for several years had already had the opportunity to live in London, in a reality therefore permeated to the core of automotive culture, look on with that all Piedmontese tenacity and determination – he was a native of Alba – realizing that for our country it would only be a matter of time.

So, in 1970, exactly 50 years ago, he moved the Automobile Bookshop in Corso Venezia – to the ground floor of the building which is still the headquarters of the Milan Automobile Club – becoming its manager in all respects, and then taking it over three years more late.
From that moment, the number 43 (today 45), became a destination for generations of enthusiasts who among those shelves – and only there – can find everything proposed by the motor publishing of the time.
But Giorgio Nada does not stop and in the second half of the seventies he understands that the time is now ripe to convey through the Library titles that bear the logo of the Library itself on the cover. The editions of the Automobile Library become, in short, a must. “Moto Guzzi”, “Isotta Fraschini”, are some of the first published subjects, but then, in 1987, it is time to separate the purely publishing activity from the sale one, with the birth of Giorgio Nada Editore.
The armillary sphere and the capitalized name, inscribed between two thin aqua-green bands, take little to become in all respects a “brand” synonymous with culture, competence and – again – passion, for the world of motors at 360 degrees .
The small space of a press release prevents justice from all the titles that have come out since then: stories of car and motorcycle manufacturers, official books to celebrate anniversaries and anniversaries, monographs on drivers, but also historical tractors, special vehicles and even more. Just last year, together with the publisher, we had “pulled a hand of accounts”, discovering that we had reached the 1000 publications: it was enough to meet his gaze to understand the enormous satisfaction of man and entrepreneur.

The same entrepreneur who, over the years, has purchased and preserved important photographic archives, today an essential asset for the publishing house, once again confirming his foresight and passion for this world.
For us, retracing these steps today does not want to be a cold recapitulation but the reconstruction of a human, professional and entrepreneurial path that does not stop, proposing itself as a mission to continue in the prolific furrow traced by the founder, which is then the most authentic way to really pay homage to “our” Publisher.

Thanks to all those – and there have been many, in Italy and in the world – who have sincerely shown affection, friendship and attachment to man and his creation in this difficult situation.
The staff of Giorgio Nada Editore and the Libreria dell’Automobile