Francesco Tullio Altan is one of those Italian authors who have the talent of putting down roots in our imaginary thanks to an absolutely personal and recognizable style. His works are wide-ranging and reach all the audiences through different canals (novels for children, satirical illustrations, graphic novels) and this is the reason why Altan has been one of the more popular authors in Italy since 30 years. Altan had an experience as screenplayer and set designer in Rome and in Brazil, where he also drew the comic strip Kiko. After his return in Italy in 1975, he started working as a cartoonist definitely. In that period Altan created some famous characters as Trino (on “Linus”, 1974), la Pimpa (on “Corriere dei Piccoli”, 1975) and Cipputi (1976), icons that accompanied whole generations of young and adult readers. In 1976 he published Colombo, his first long story for adults on “Linus”, that was preceded by the short story Casanova in the previous year. Afterwards he created memorable stories, such as biographical parodies (Franz – St. Francis of Assisi), noirs, adventures, spy-stories (Ada nella giungla, Macao, Sandokan), contemporary moral parables (Friz Melone, Cuori Pazzi). The “Il mar delle blatte” exhibition, staged in Museo della Musica, is going to focus on Altan’s graphic novels. These works, at last, will return available thanks to the new editions by Comma 22 and thanks to an anthology published by Rizzoli in occasion of Bilbolbul festival. The exhibition is also displaying the story that Altan drew for Noir, a disc by Enrico Rava edited in France in 1996.