Filippo Annibali: The Rehab Diaries

After surviving a youth spent in squats, surrounded by dealers of every kind and constantly devising new ways to score yet another fix, Federico Malaspina—the alter ego of Filippo Anniballi and protagonist of The Rehab Diaries—has decided it is time to start over. L’Isola, the rehabilitation centre for drug addicts recommended by a family friend, is his last chance. But once there, he finds himself in a world of its own, governed by surreal laws and populated by characters who seem to have wandered in from a Troma B-movie directed by Harmony Korine.

Sophisticated pharmacology experts, fallen aristocrats, Swiss painters, figures with colourful criminal pasts, mercurial moods, and therapies based on methadone and Valium form the core of this posthumously published novel, which is also a manifesto: the cynical yet playful testament of one of the most elusive figures of the Italian underground of the 2000s, and an undisputed protagonist—among many other things—of that brief, mythological season known as “Italian Chemical Literature.”

Filippo Anniballi, aka Phil Sick (1976–2024), was a writer, poet, screenwriter, actor, gonzo journalist, singer, translator, performer, and stand-up comedian—often all in the same day. In 2009, he published what, until now, had remained his only novel, Milingo contro tutti.

The presentation is promoted by Guido Costa Projects, in conjunction with the exhibition dedicated to Alterazioni Video in the fair’s lounge area. Alterazioni Video is the winner of the 2025 Tosetti Value Prize.

Speakers:  Paololuca Barbieri Marchi (Artist, Founder of Alterazioni Video), Davide Giannella (Independent Curator), Giorgio Orbi (Artist).

Language: Italian

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Filippo Anniballi, The Rehab Diaries. Credits: ©NERO, VL9 Photography.