iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tostoini @tostoini.it · 21/09/2026

A month under the banner of Conflict & Care. a newsletter full of beautiful pigeons, moving poems about swimming and doing the washing, being made of flammable materials and going against the grain eighty years ago and today. patreon.com/posts/169532386

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 02/09/2026

"Overflowing with silliness and a blazing desire to burn some things to the ground" is my whole personality at this point. (a new illustration for my peeps) patreon.com/cw/tostoini

Patreon preview card with the words "full of whimsy & seething rage" and the link to tostoini's patreon page, on the background of cutesy hand lettering, on fire.

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 23/08/2026

NO WORK Only MIAO MIAO

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 11/08/2026

As I'm about to board a plane to my hometown in Sardinia, this is where I'm spend the next days, morally & physically embracing this heraldic symbol of Italian August and of the holidays of people worldwide who live away from where they're born and spend part of their summer at home, just being.

An illustration of a white plastic stackable garden chair on pink background, by tostoini

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 28/07/2026

A newsletter about middle age, Middle Ages with capital letters, me gushing on @goingmedieval.bsky.social, and the times when the summer exam session is no longer a test on Romance Philology but more like "before the exam be on an empty stomach for at least 12 hours". www.patreon.com/tostoini/pos...

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 25/07/2026

Me, genuinely enjoying my day: 🏔

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 20/07/2026

If we are making progress but we don't have a definite destination in mind to make progress toward, maybe instead of making progress should we call it a stroll? In that case, we should definitively get ice cream along the way. A post for my manapeeps on Patreon! www.patreon.com/tostoini/pos...

Patreon preview card from Tostoini with the words "Puzzling, pointless progress" superimposed on a detail of a bigger illustration

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 20/07/2026

I love making pet portraits, browsing cat pictures FOR WORK, developing a parasocial relation with the subjects of the illustration, hearing stories about them to decide how to best capture their characters. I loved drawing those two, she'e even rounder than this, and he's even lōôœnger.

Portrait illustration of two striped cats with round eyes and faces on a cat scratcher, surrounded by a garden jungle

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 10/07/2026

Yes I have parasocial relationships with all the cats in my timeline, why do you ask

Vincenzina the cat sitting on the edge of the balcony at dusk surrounded by plants and string lights

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 08/07/2026

Discovery and wonder is a neverending job.

Illustration of a pink leaf bug in the forest

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 08/07/2026

or Uromys Vika, an arboreal rodent re-discovered in Vangunu in 2015, after decades of research based on stories and nibbled coconuts.

Illustration of a uromis vika giant rat sipping a coconut with a straw

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 08/07/2026

Or Potamotrigon Rex, a giant polka-dot frying pan living in the river Tocantins.

Illustration of a potamotrigon tex stingray swimming

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 08/07/2026

Animals we didn't know that existed, and now we do: creatures we didn’t know were around, like Eulophophyllum kirki, Eriovixia Gryffindori, or Pheidole Drogon, an ant from Papua New Guinea with a spiny back named after the big dragon in Game of Thrones.

Illustration of a Pheidole Drogon ant peeking form behind a tree

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 08/07/2026

One of the perks of being an illustration is that you are allowed to go back to your older illos and make another pass on them! It's allowed! It's not cheating! #sciart

Illustration of an Eriovixia Gryffindori spider on a leaf in the forest

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 27/06/2026

My body made absolutely clear in unequivocal terms that he's not ok with being outside in a heatwave, so instead of being at the Pride parade I made this illustration. STAY ZESTY! 🍋 www.patreon.com/posts/162240...

Preview of patreon post from tostoini with a Nineties colorful pattern and the words "when life gives you lemons, bring a zester - A zesty drink to make the messy lasagna of living a little more digestible."

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 26/06/2026

Aside from humans, manatee have no predators. Adults can swim alongside crocodiles and nobody will try to take a bite. If you think that's baffling you should remember that yes, they're gentle giants, but they're still giants. They defend themselves by taking up space.

A manatee occupying almost all the image surrounded by the words TAKE UP SPACE

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 04/06/2026

Maybe it's being overheated that made me decide that translating the monthly newsletter that I wrote in Italian for the last eight years in English was a good idea. www.patreon.com/posts/160158...

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 24/05/2026

Spent the day at Artropocene Festival (excellent name) speaking about why treating science, science communication, art, creativity & humour like they're separate is part of the reason we're in this mess. I finally met a gar in person! And a Insulindian Phasmid from Disco Elysium! A very #sciart day.

Tostoini dedicating a copy of fossili viventi to a child while sitting on the grass

A gar swimming in a tank in esapolis museum

Tostoini smiling while holding a big phasmid

Tostoini smiling while holding a madagascar hissing cockroach

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 22/05/2026

I don't want to undermine your expertise but from the picture they don't look like popcorn, they're clearly a lost flavour of Pastiglie Leone candies.

Pastiglie leone hard candies from turin on blue background

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 14/05/2026

A hat full of stars, and a kimono full of manatees.

Trickster kitsune goddess with a kimono with manatees pattern on a ocean blue wavy background, a mischievous smirk and a halo made from a sliver of moon

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 14/05/2026

I'm very proud of myself for sendind my patreon their monthly illustration while bouncing around Italy speaking to children on the inexhaustible topic of weird but real creatures. If you want to subscribe to you monthly dose of manatees - or, this month sloths: www.patreon.com/posts/beacon...

a card with the tile "A beacon of weirdness" and under that the text "I fel that I am well on my way to fully transform in the Unmanageable Old Lady I was always destined to be, shedding one layer of decency at a time.

a handlettered "weird" with a blue marble effect with a ornate illustrated marble frame

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 04/05/2026

Sometimes inviting people to touch grass is not enough.

A illustration of an artichoke on pink background and the words "go lick an artichoke"

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 01/05/2026

It's International Workers Day 🫡

An illustration of a pencil writing the words "work abolitionist" and a small plant blooming from it

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 25/04/2026

Buon 25 Aprile, Festa della Liberazione dal Nazifascismo*. Per Irma, Ines, Norma, Ancilla, Clorinda, Vera, Modesta e tutte le altre. * (il "da + complemento" di causa è importante, lascia fare.)

Illustrated portrait of Irma Bandiera, Italian partisan fighter, tortured and killed by Nazifascist regime

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 14/04/2026

I chose to attend only two exhibitions yesterday: I Will Eat You in the End by Marianna Coppo and David Duff, and Woolf! Woolf! by Letizia Iannaccone and Serena Ballista at Senape Vivaio Urbano. Both are a JOY, tested and loved for you, if you are in town don't miss them! #BCBF

I will eat you in the end by Marianna Coppo, with her original drawing sticked to the wall with fluo colorful washi tape, a glass vase to pick what you'll become after your death and a book fo drawing requests

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 14/04/2026

#BCBF is alway such a lovable, exhausting joy. I'm one, and the Fair and the events in city is an entire world I'd like to see, do and hug, always fewer than I'd like to (especially hugging the people and their pets).

Woolf! Woolf! Exhibition of original drawings by Letizia Iannaccone at Senape Vivaio Urbano in Bologna, with her drawing hanging between lusciuos plants

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 10/04/2026

Also also also, more joy: in May I'll be holding a workshop on Living Fossils at @labaracca.testoniragazzi within Atmosferico festival, where some teenagers will probably eat me alive and whole like an egg, but I'll worry about that in May.

Atmosferico festival at teatro testoni card, a event iside BOOM! Crescere nel libri in Bologna

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 10/04/2026

It's the chapter where Pinocchio encounters a giant flaming snake on his path and tries to sneak around it, but fails and falls facedown. The snake, seeing this, laughs so hard that it DIES. Priceless.

A close-up of the illustration inspired by Pinocchio novel of the scene where Pinocchio met a flaming snake, tries to sneak around it, faceplant in the dirt and the snake laugh so much that it dies. The illustration depict the giant snake taking most of the image, laughing uproariously, spitting flames

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 10/04/2026

Before Bologna, I also submitted an illustration to Pinocchio's New Clothes. I wasn't selected, but I'm very happy with this illustration, inspired by one of the book's most weird moments, in a book that CERTAINLY has no shortage of weird.

A illustration inspired by Pinocchio novel of the scene where Pinocchio met a flaming snake, tries to sneak around it, faceplant in the dirt and the snake laugh so much that it dies. The illustration depict the giant snake taking most of the image, laughing uproariously, spitting flames, while pinocchio is planted in the dirt, flaying its legs

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 10/04/2026

I first attended BCBF in 2014: I took my time because I'm as slow and winding as rivers, but I'm thrilled to be on the other side of the table this year. So, if you're in Bologna, come say hello on Monday the 13th at 3:00 PM in Hall 25, booth B12, Hall area.

Card with the book signing hours at aboca stand at Bologna Book Fair: monday april the 13th at 15.00 book signing by Roberta Ragona, author and illustrator of Fossili Viventi, Hall 25 Stand B12

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 10/04/2026

In April, I'm taking a single trip out of town for Fossili Viventi, but what a trip: I'll be at the Bologna Children's Book Fair for a book signing at the Aboca Edizioni booth. #bcbf #bcbf26 #picturebook #childrenbooks

Roberta Ragona aka Tostoini, lookin sideways with a smirk, in the Aboca Edizioni Stand surrounded by Aboca books as her own, Fossili Viventi, and many many plants

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 09/04/2026

Living in interesting times is not all it's cracked up to be, just ask the dinosaurs www.patreon.com/tostoini

The preview of the monthly illustration for my patreons

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 07/04/2026

"You guys look great" Christina Koch, Artemis II #sciart #artemisII

A manatee astronaut loungin jn a crater on the moon watching back to earth and the words "a room with a view" with the word room striken and corrected to satellite

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 03/04/2026

In 18th century Catholic Church decided to classify capybara as fish to allow its consumption during Lent. The rationale was, in theory, that capybaras spend most of their time in water, THEREFORE is essentially a fish. 🐡 (in reality, as it always happens, the real reason is rooted in colonialism).

An illustration of a capibara swimming with a juvenile on her back, and silhouettes of fishes in the water

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 03/04/2026

If you live in a country with a big catholic community, you may know that this Friday is a big deal in the Lent calendar before Easter, and you shold abstain from meat as a sign of penance. But maybe you didn't know that you can still eat capibara, 'cause CAPIBARA IS A FISH!* *well, kinda #sciart

A page from Living Fossils by Roberta Ragona with facts and illustrations about capibaras

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 01/04/2026

Deadloch? Prima stagione Tasmania, seconda Australia, io completamente avvinta

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 01/04/2026

What a beaver mermaid could look like? And a otter mermaid (with her pet rock, of course)? And a seal mermaid?* No, they're not wearing scallops bras either. It doesn't look practical for a life in the wilderness. 5/6

tree mermaids, one is half human and half seal, one half human and half beaver, one half human and half otter.

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 01/04/2026

For this illustration I have retrieved a trio of sirens I draw some time ago as a personal reply to the question: why mermaid are usually half fish and and half woman, and never half woman and half sea-mammal? The physiology is already there! You can skip so many evolutionary steps! 4/6

four manatees with seashells and starfish bras with tree mermaids

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 01/04/2026

UNDER THEIR ARMPITS. ...Aren't they the best animal ever designed?? I love them, them and their armpit secret. When you see picture of a manatee mom and their calf, the calf is usually with their snout very close to their mom's armpit. Because there's food in those 'pits!! 3/6

four manatees with seashells and starfish bras with the words "not all sirens wear shells"

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 01/04/2026

And I get it. Manatees are goofy and a manatee with a seashell bra is comedy gold. But it's even funnier when you think that... there's nothing under there. Absolutely nothing. Yes. No nips under those scallops. And you may ask: where, prey tell, do manatees hide their nipples? Ready? [2/6]

four manatees with seashells and starfish bras

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 01/04/2026

Ready for another round of "who needs fiction when reality is already funny enough?" So. If you happen to stumble on an illustration of a manatee mermaid, chances are that the drawing will be a manatee with the classic seashell bra, the one that Ariel in The Little Mermaid had. 1/6 #sciart

four manatees with seashells and starfish bras with tree mermaids and the words "not all sirens wear shells" #sciart

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 27/03/2026

Days without embarassing myself:

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 05/03/2026

I am a big fan of spite as an engine for change, endurance, community. I take care of myself out of spite. I take care of my community out of spite. I carve my space for joy out of spite. www.patreon.com/c/tostoini

A preview of a Patreon reward illustration with a text that said "If hope is not enough there's always spite"

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 03/03/2026

Soft by choice Softness as resistance

A line of manatees flying in a pink sunrise sky on a dreamy pastel seaside landscape seen from a light gauze opem drape

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 18/02/2026

We're horseposting post your horses (The pun does not work in Italian, but I'm not missing a chance to say that I love these extremely weird alien seaside spaceships)

Limulo (Horseshoe crab) page from Living Fossils Book

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 12/02/2026

"I hate every wave of the ocean." Charles Darwin Letter to his cousin, William Fox 15th February 1836 (I would pay good money gor a serie in the vein of Our Flag Means Death on young and messy Charlie Darwin.) #darwinday #sciart

Illustrated portrait of a smiling old Charles Darwin

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 12/02/2026

Artists, quote with something silly! (SILLY IS MY JAM)

Manatee as Botticelli's Venus surg9ng from the water on a seashell

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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 04/02/2026

I'm not saying that my entire capacity of enduring the neverending dumpster fires of 2026 is resting entirely on the shoulders of the new Muppet Show, BUT

Miss Piggy and Sabrina Carpenter with matching outfits on The Muppet Show

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