Nuove Frontiere

7 Issues.  Folio.  330 x 220 mm., [13 x 8 ¾ inches]. Bound with original card stock wrappers with illustrated titles, mimeographed text with illustrations, printed on rectos only; stapled.  First three issues are printed on tan paper later ones also on pink and blue paper.  Wrappers scuffed a little on the edges with minor foxing and staining; tiny tears in margins.

1965:  Year I:  Issue No. I, 20 unnumbered sheets.  No. II, 26 pp.  No. III, 32 pp., with an interleaved unnumbered leaf. 

1966:  Year II:  Issue No. I, 33 pp.  No. II, 29 pp.  No III, title, 25 pp., [1].

1967:  Year III:  Issue No. 1, 31 pp.

Very good copy of this rare set of mimeographed Zines, published by the novices at the Franciscan Monastery in Colleviti, Pescia, Italy.  The Nuove Frontiere (New Boundaries) contains various reports, travelogues, poems, and short texts on mostly religious subjects, along with numerous humorous illustrations.  It includes notes on the impact of the reforms initiated by Vatican Council II; an essay on Dante, a letter to members of the monastery with images of JFK, St. Francis, and John XXIII; a report of travels to Naples and the churches that were visited; a letter home to mother; an essay on life as a novitiate and more.

What distinguishes the short magazine articles are the illustrations that accompany the text.  They are amateur drawings, many caricatures of members of the community, and images of events that appear in the text.  It is fun, playful, and joyful ZINE published by a most unusual source.