Graphunk

Santo Ferruccio Guglia was a young man from Nicosia, a small town in central Sicily, who in the early '90s discovered an overwhelming passion for punk culture. He came from a middle-class family that had always encouraged education and creativity. Despite receiving a traditional education, Santo was fascinated by the counterculture and punk music, which represented a rebellion against the established order. 

To create his fanzines, Ferruccio used a variety of tools with ingenuity and dedication.

His typewriter was an old Olivetti Lettera 32, found in his grandfather’s attic. The worn-out letters and noisy keys gave an authentic touch to the texts, filled with passion and spontaneity. With scissors, he cut out images and texts from magazines and newspapers, composing collages that visually expressed the energy of punk. 

The glue he used was simple glue, allowing precise attachment of cutouts to the pages. An essential tool was the photocopier found in the back of a local bookstore run by a family friend. Whenever he needed to make copies, Ferruccio spent hours in that small room, photocopying one page at a time carefully to ensure every detail was perfect. The photocopier was a slow but reliable Ricoh model from the '80s, requiring special attention to avoid jams.

For the fanzine covers, Ferrucio used colored cardstock, often hand-drawn by Marco, the group’s self-taught graphic designer. The drawings were a mix of punk symbols, graffiti, and illustrations inspired by the themes covered in each issue. Nio, a photography enthusiast, contributed black-and-white photographs, developed in his home darkroom, capturing local concerts and everyday life moments. 

Besides the fanzines, Ferruccio also dabbled in creating typographic signs for fun and passion, which still adorn some historic youth spots in Nicosia from the '90s. He also made his own music tapes with his favorite bands, carefully selecting and recording the songs that inspired him the most.

The fanzines, filled with album reviews, interviews with local bands, and rebellious poetry, mainly circulated among the youth of Nicosia and neighboring towns. Ferruccio managed to produce about 50 copies of each issue, distributed in local venues, at concerts, and even by mail to anyone interested. 

The editorial team consisted of a few trusted friends: Gino Centamore, a talented guitarist, Nio Torregrossa, a photography enthusiast, and Marco Gervasi, a self-taught graphic designer. Together, they formed a close-knit group that shared the same passion for punk and the dissemination of alternative ideas.