Alberto Pina and Andrés Barba met in Rome, at the top of Mount Gianicolo and next to the Garibaldi memorial in January 2003, the year in which they were both fellows (in arts and literature respectively) of the Academy of Spain. El cañón de Garibaldi ediciones is the result of that meeting and of long years of friendship, conversations and experiences lived in common, of the desire to work together and to share materials and ideas, and of a deep conviction that the artist’s book will increasingly play an important role in contemporary artistic production and in the discussion about the book as an object.

El cañón de Garibaldi also refers to the famous cannon shot every day from Garibaldi´s memorial to mark the stroke of twelve o’clock at midday. A custom established in 1847 by Pope Pius IX to coordinate all the hours of the city. A wake-up call and at the same time a warning signal.