May 2027 · Milan, Lombardy
For publishing houses presenting their poetry lines to the festival’s evenings, poets and authors reading their texts during the programme’s evenings, independent bookshops and Milan libraries curating the calendar’s meetings, schools and universities bringing students to the workshop, partner poetry festivals and the delegates of the European poetry networks, the editorial offices of literary magazines and cultural press covering the event, cultural associations and reading circles organising the programme’s events, the corporate sponsors of the territory’s culture — poetry collections printed in limited runs for the reading evenings, branded bookmarks and programmes for the card evenings, certified-paper shoppers for the public audiences, welcome kits for guest poets and masterclass speakers, reading sheets and press kits for new lines in the programme — consolidated at our Milan hub and dispatched to the festival venues in slots confirmed by the festival’s schedule.
The Milan Poetry Festival — an annual event that brings together publishers, poets, bookshops, schools, partner festivals, literary-press editorial offices, cultural associations and a poetry public— is a moment of comparison among the new generations of Italian poetry, the European poetry networks and the partner festivals, with a calendar of reading evenings, masterclasses, meetings, collection presentations, literary-criticism round tables and award days that crosses the venues of the Milan literary circuit.
For publishing houses presenting their poetry lines to the festival’s evenings, poets and authors reading their texts during the programme’s evenings, independent bookshops and Milan libraries curating the calendar’s meetings, schools and universities bringing students to the masterclasses, partner poetry festivals and the delegates of the European poetry networks, the editorial offices of literary magazines and cultural press covering the event, cultural associations and reading circles organising the programme’s events, corporate sponsors of the territory’s culture, Corp-Merch.IT manages the full programme from its Milan hub: receipt of master graphic files from the commissioning body (AI, EPS, PDF/X-4 with CMYK images at 300 dpi, FOGRA39 colour profile for print, Pantone for textiles), adaptation to the various decoration techniques (hot-foil stamping on FSC-certified paper for poetry collections and programme booklets, water-based screen-printing on GOTS-certified organic cotton for reading-public shoppers, laser engraving on walnut wood for partner-festival delegate welcome boxes, computerised embroidery for aprons and uniforms of bookshop staff attending the events, UV printing on recycled PVC for inauguration-day passes), production on Italian supply chains (Fabriano paper for poetry collections), Como textiles for reading-public shoppers, AQL 2.5 quality control and delivery to the publishing house, the bookshop, the university or the festival warehouse in slots confirmed by the festival’s schedule.
For Italian clients with a VAT number, the invoice is issued through the Sistema di Interscambio (SdI) of the Agenzia delle Entrate at 22% VAT in EUR; reverse charge for intra-EU buyers registered in VIES, split payment for public-administration entities, recipient code or PEC for compliance notifications and electronic delivery of the invoice. For editorial materials (poetry collections, programme booklets, reading sheets of new lines) the reduced VAT rate of 4% or 5% applies depending on the product category provided for by current legislation. For clients subject to CSRD reporting (D.Lgs. 125/2024, transposing Directive (EU) 2022/2464) we provide a sustainability scorecard per order with a Scope 3 CO₂e estimate according to the GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain on the internal routes and from the indicated supply chains, in line with ESRS E1 and E5.
The May window of the Milan Poetry Festival is concentrated and must be prepared against a calendar that includes the Tuesday opening evening, the Wednesday and Thursday card evenings of the readings, the Friday masterclasses for schools, the Saturday literary-criticism round tables, the weekend of proof-reading and the evenings of new-line presentations, the Sunday final awards evening. For publishing houses and poets the gap between the confirmation of the event’s graphics and the opening of the inaugural evenings is normally under ten weeks, and any item that has to be at the bookshop, the university, the publishing house or the festival warehouse for the first reading evening must be finalised and shipped at least five working days before the inauguration. We work backwards from that moment: production closes two-to-three weeks before the inauguration; the courier slot to the venues of the Milan literary circuit is booked for the Tuesday or Wednesday of the week before; the addressee list (bookshop, university, auditorium, warehouse, hotels) is finalised with the event direction at least two weeks before opening; edition-specific print runs (year, edition number, collection titles, publishing-house logos) only add a short reprint to an already-produced neutral graphic base.
Poetry collections printed in limited runs on FSC-certified paper with hot-foil stamping of the line’s title, programme booklets for the card evenings, reading sheets for the new lines introduced, press kits for the circuit’s publishing houses, limited-edition poster prints for partner-festival delegates.
Bookmarks in FSC-certified paper for the card reading evenings, shoppers in GOTS-certified organic cotton with coordinated screen-printing for the public of the readings, foldable shoppers in recycled polyester, metallic bookmarks in Maniago steel for the publishing-house collections of the circuit.
Welcome boxes in walnut wood or technical carton containing a limited-edition festival poetry collection, FSC-certified paper notebook with hot-foil-stamped masterclass title, coordinated shopper, packaging coordinated with the festival’s institutional colours.
Badges in recycled PVC with UV printing for poets, publishers, delegates, press, inauguration-day pass badges with personalised ribbons, coordinated uniforms for the staff of bookshops attending the events, branded aprons for library booksellers.
Before launching production, artwork, quantities per addressee, packaging and named receiving point must be confirmed. The final delivery address is set in the weeks of the event against the calendar published by the event direction: the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and the independent bookshops of central Milan have restricted access; the spaces of schools and universities operate on their own delivery windows that must be coordinated with the direction’s contacts; the festival warehouse requires addressee-labelled deliveries. The ZTL of central Milan (Area C) restricts courier access, which is why most teams choose early-morning deliveries or after 19:30, when heavy vehicles are again allowed in ZTL areas. For materials requiring controlled-environment conditions (poetry collections, programme booklets, reading sheets of new lines) we coordinate climate-controlled transport with specialised partners.
For an Italian programme routed through the Milan hub, consignments are consolidated and shipped to the bookshop, the university, the publishing house or the direction’s warehouse with 24–48 hour windows via BRT, SDA, GLS or DHL Express Italy, by appointment for major teams requiring telephone pre-notice. For programmes engaging delegates of partner poetry festivals of the European networks (France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Croatia) we handle multilingual labelling (Italian, English, French, German, Spanish) and tamper-evident packaging with bilingual packing lists addressed to the named recipient. For programmes over 1,000 pieces we propose appointment-based delivery with telephone pre-notice and, on request, on-site setup by our staff at the bookshop or the direction’s warehouse.
Eight-to-ten weeks is the safest window for FSC-paper poetry collections, GOTS-organic-cotton shoppers, walnut-wood welcome boxes for partner-festival delegates and recycled-PVC badges for inauguration days. Tighter windows are only possible after confirming stock, decoration methods and access to the bookshop or the direction’s warehouse.
Yes, after the event direction has confirmed the loading window, the space access and the named recipient. For poetry collections and programme booklets specific packaging conditions must be agreed.
Yes. Publishing-house poetry collections, card-evening shoppers, partner-festival delegate welcome kits and inauguration-day badges can be packed and labelled as separate lots, tied to each audience and to each delivery point, with multilingual labelling for delegates of partner festivals of the European poetry networks.
No. Corp-Merch is an independent external supplier that helps publishing houses, poets, bookshops, schools, partner festivals and sponsors of the Milan Poetry Festival prepare their merch. It does not organise, sponsor or represent the event direction.
Corp-Merch is an independent external supplier of the teams working at the Milan Poetry Festival. This page helps teams prepare their merch for the event; it does not represent the Milan Poetry Festival direction, the partner festivals of the European poetry networks, the schools or the event’s sponsors.