Bologna Pen Show 2025
I really enjoy travelling to pen shows. Unfortunately this was a difficult outward journey, despite the very Christmassy tree at Heathrow Airport!, as a consequence of an air traffic control strike in Italy. That meant I missed out on a catch up with friends on Friday as I arrived around midnight instead of at lunchtime! That said, I still had a really good time at the show catching up with many excellent vendors and friends! That’s the best part of the show for me - although I am always on the look out for new pens, seeing people is a joy as pen selling can be an insular and occasionally lonely hobby!
I have been to Bologna before. It is always a great show, travel and hotels are reasonably priced, and the weather is cold, crisp but sunny! The show is held at the I-Portici hotel, which is a rather posh establishment - I tend to stay just up the road in the still nice but cheaper Zenhotel Tre Vecchi. Both hotels are in easy walking distance of the main railway station if you are travelling light, and there is an excellent service - the Marconi Express - direct from the airport to the main train station. The City has a few dramatic statues too!
The main reason for attending an Italian pen show (apart from visiting Italy with its food and drink par excellence) seeing Italian pens, the like and variety of which I don’t think you see in any other shows. Certainly there were Italian pen dealers I havent seen anywhere else (although my visit to the Milan pen show was some years ago).
As you would expect there are OMAS, Aurora, Delta and Monetgrappa pens a plenty (as well as Montblanc, Parker etc.). There were also a lot of spares on offer. Marco Tagliani, was there with a superb selection of OMAS pens - and he is a really nice chap too! Whilst the more modern variety are on display, it is fantastic to see the vintage pens that are so rare - such as the Aurora Internazionale lever filler, and the many varieties of exotically coloured celluloid that aren’t found on any other manufacture. I have tried to give some context to these comments in the photos. As usual, Marco’s associate at www.penboard.de, Tom Westerich, was on the table next door, with a selection of pens including new Goldfink models. I am a big fan of Tom’s pens and his repair skills. It is with good reason I have nicknamed him the “Pen Maestro”! The inimitable Miro Tischler of Penkala Pens is pictured - as well as great pens he takes a mean pen show video! Please look out for his pen show videos on You Tube - they are well worth a watch!
It was also wonderful to see Mr Gian Luca Magaluti and his mother, Mrs Raffaella Simoni, at the show, who are behind the European only revival of the OMAS Bologna brand, Mrs Simoni’s father Armando, having started the brand in the 1920’s. They are 2 lovely people with a big passion for producing high quality pens, and 2 were on display. The OMAS 150625 and the latest model, the OMAS Permanio in grey pearl celluloid. I recommend a look at the website to get the full details (www.omasbologna.com), with pictures to better show the pens than my poor efforts on this blog. The pens are magnificent, and if you are into flex, then the nibs on these pens are outstanding.
I inadvertently omitted to take a picture of the pen show - it is located in a large room, which can become crowded but it is easy to get fresh air outside, and there are plenty of cafes, bars and eateries nearby. The only picture I have is of the big windows letting in plenty of light, with some festive decoration!
In short I had a wonderful time and throughly recommend the trip.
