Benito Jacovitti

Benito Jacovitti is probably the most famous Italian satirical cartoonist, known for his absurd and humorous series full of bizarre events, like 'I tre P', 'Cocco Bill' and 'Zorry Kid'. Jacovitti was still only a high school student when his first cartoons appeared in the satirical weekly Il Brivido, in 1939. In the following year, he created his character 'Pippo' in Il Vittorioso. Together with his companions Pertica and Palla, Pippo formed the hilarious threesome 'I tre P' ('The Three P's'), whose adventures appeared in Il Vittorioso magazine until its disappearance in 1967.

Also for Il Vittorioso, Jacovitti additionally produced series like 'Mandrago il Mago', 'Giove il bove', 'Le Babbuce di Allah', 'Arcipoliziotto Cip', 'Jack Mandolino', 'Il Barbiere della Prateria', 'Chicchirichi', 'Raimondo il Vagabondo', 'Pasqualino e Pasqualone', as well as adaptations of 'Ali Baba', 'Don Quichotte' and 'Pinocchio'. In the periods 1949-51 and 1955-59, he was present in the satirical weekly Il Travaso, with several famous characters. In 1949, Jacovitti commenced working on 'I Diari Vitt', a series for school papers published by A.V.E., which he continued until 1980.

In 1956, he began a ten-year collaboration with the Milanese newspaper Il Giorno, and its supplement Il Girono dei Ragazzi. There, he created his well-known riotous, nonsensical western parody 'Cocco Bill', as well as journalist/detective 'Tom Ficcanaso' and 'Gionni Glassia'. A clever parody of the famous masked Zorro, called 'Zorry Kid', was created for Il Corriere dei Piccoli in 1968. This series was later continued in Il Corriere dei Ragazzi and Il Giornalino. For Il Corriere dei Ragazzi, he also restarted 'Jack Mandolino' in 1973.

Jacovitti was additionally present in such magazines as Il Piccolo Missionario, Domenica della Corriere, La Notte, L'Europeo, Intervallo, Comic Art, Sorry, Eureka, Albi Costellazione and Linus. In 1983, he adapted the Kama Sutra, with Marcello Marchesi, while also working in the commercial field and as a teacher. Benito Jacovitti's work has been reprinted in hardcover and appeared in Rizzoli's famous Bur collection. Throughout his career, Jacovitti has created over 60 characters, and published more than 150 books.