Nocturama

Nocturama Bononia is a collection of interactive urban fantasy comics set in Bologna at night. Its stories follow different characters through real city places, monuments and objects, each facing the most important night of their life.

Stories of Bologna

In “Liber Paradisus,” Red, an exhausted rider working in Italy, is called back by his company and pushed to keep going for himself and his family. On a delivery, he meets a man waiting to recite the memorial known as the Book of Paradise.

In “Ars Memoriae,” an uninspired narrator wanders Bologna under the moonlight. At the historic University Library, a hooded figure offers to help him find a story if he plays a strange game with a worn-out tarot deck.

“Gargoyle” follows a man wandering after a night of drinking, gripped by pain. At a street corner where Good and Evil coexist, he must face the paradox and confront his demons.

Obsessions and inheritance

In “A seamstress’ night,” Roberta wins a major tailoring award but is torn apart by critics. Obsessed with her work, she has cut off her other relationships; her only leisure is a few minutes in the cloister of the Church of Santo Stefano after work. One night, a woman there offers a pact to make Roberta’s art immortal.

In “The Wanderer,” Dasein, the last descendant of an ancient Academia formed by nobles who studied at the University of Bologna’s Archiginnasio, seeks his inheritance. The Academia gathered the ingredients for Theriaca, an elixir that controls human souls. Dasein’s only obstacle is a boy: the Wanderer.

“Emma” follows thirteen-year-old Emma as she gets lost in Villa Angeletti park and searches for her way home. She finds the macabre remains of earlier visitors and, near the banks of the Navile Canal, discovers their source and what lies hidden in its waters.

Ghosts and the passage of time

In “Requiescat,” Dalia has hunted ectoplasms for more than twenty years without ever being deceived by a ghost. A letter asks her for help at the ancient Villa Clara, just outside the city. Suspicious because such letters are no longer sent, she goes to the villa and finds her doubts justified: perhaps, for the first time, she has been deceived.

In “Two soloists,” acclaimed pianist Carlo prepares to debut at the Teatro Comunale. As he plays, every chord corresponds to a crime in Bologna’s alleys, committed by a ruthless murderer. Neither Carlo nor the killer can stop; both seek their audiences’ applause.

In “Kairos,” Proarke and Sige, Guardians of the temporal dimension, have rested for centuries as stone eagles on the facade of Palazzo d’Accursio. When Bologna’s sundials and clocks begin to melt, they awaken to find out who is threatening time. The cause leads back to their past and to old, unresolved jealousies.