Tipografia Vaticana has been the official printing house of Vatican City since 1587. Three years ago, the centuries-old printing house embarked on a major transformation project to achieve greater operational flexibility and reduce its ecological footprint.
It produces papal acts and official documents of the dicasteries, offices of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, as well as various magazines, including art publications for the Vatican Museums and the Osservatore Romano the daily newspaper published by the official Vatican information service. As another commercial printer, Tipografia Vaticana also prints business cards, invitations, posters and greeting cards. Its bookbinding workshop is renowned for its craftsmanship, producing various materials (Balacron, Imitlin, Skivertex, etc.) mainly for the Papal Household and the Pope.
Equipped with Roland offset presses, the printing plant already has a digital printing department, mainly laser, used for pre-printing. In December 2020, it really took the digital step: an HP Indigo 12K press configured for up to 7 colors was installed.
"This is a historic step in the life of the Vatican Printing House" Francesco Masci, head of the technological direction of the Dicastery, told Vatican News.
With this machine, Tipografia Vaticana can now print small runs and even on demand.
And "there is a 'green' aspect to these new generation digital machines, appreciates Francesco Masci, both because they don't produce processing waste and because they use water-based inks that eliminate chemical solvents that previously had to be disposed of in large quantities."
"Gold can also be reproduced The director is also pleased with the results, in a way that does not have the same yield as the gold leaf technique, but is very close to it" .
