Identità e alterità sulle sponde del Bosforo alla scoperta de ‘la Monna Lisa dell’arte turca’

Istanbul has long been the subject of countless travelogues. In Italy, too, several publications have explored the city on the Bosphorus; suffice it to mention Constantinople by Edmondo De Amicis, which keeps inspiring Italian and foreign readers, travellers and writers alike one hundred and fifty years since its first release. A common feature in the majority of this literature is a topos that Umberto Eco defined “rapimento dell’arrivo”, that is, a sense of rapture facing the magnificence of the city upon arrival. Yet, especially in the field of graphic novels and graphic journalism, travellers have narrated the encounter with Istanbul according to alternative paths and schemes. One of these graphic travelogues is L’ammaestratore di Istanbul (The Turtle Tamer of Istanbul) by Elettra Stamboulis and Gianluca Costantini, which allows us to reflect on a question that forms the backdrop to the whole work, namely the question of identity and otherness.