In the beautiful Wedding Room at Palazzo Estense, we witnessed a christening. The project The Social Bookshop and The Public Library, summed up in the brand new App “SBAPP”, was presented in the context of Glocal 2022, the national digital journalism festival, now at its 11th edition. I would like to thank editor Marco Giovannelli for inviting us and Michele Mancino, panel driver and deputy editor at Varese News, Claudio Buda of Mango Mobile, creator of the App, and Angelo Di Liberto, writer and creator of Billy il vizio di leggere (Bully, the habit of reading), who explained how the publishing industry can benefit from the web. Thanks for her intervention to dr. Claudia Giussani, Busto Arsizio public library director, who attended on behalf of the Councillor for Culture, the Busto Libri members, friends and journalists whose names I don’t know. A day to remember for me and the project team, which I thank. I believe this baby App will grow and I will do it with all the love I feel.
CONCEPT
This project stems from the desire to gather those cultural and social places represented by bookshops and public libraries which are scattered throughout the vast Italian territory. Bookshops and public libraries which - aware of their role as catalysts of culture, information, and freedom - are engaged in the promotion and organization of several projects. Authors’ presentations, exhibitions, shared readings, courses, laboratories, social events are all examples; aiming to connect people and actively involve citizens in the life of the community as the primary value of sociality. Bookshops and public libraries are - by vocation - places where relationships happen naturally, without being forced by a passive sense of one-way passage of information or goods. Places where plots are woven, dialogues are created and the threads of everyone’s life are intertwined. They are free admission places, as it is the square (as conceived in the Renaissance).
The Social Bookshop and the Public Library Library aims to highlight the free civic dimension of bookshops and public libraries as an opportunity to meet. An invitation to take part and discover ourselves as citizens of the world, all of us deserving to link our lives to that of others. Itistheirrole,andnottheirlocation,oftencentral to the urban fabric or dislocated in the sensitive areas of the so-called suburbs, that makes public libraries and bookshops real points of social aggregation, so much to have done of the agorà - which is typically the fulcrum around which the city winds – plural agoras, spaces able to communicate with the city.
The project The Social Bookshop and the Public Library was born from a thought of Francesca Boragno, historical bookseller in Busto Arsizio (in the province of Varese). It represents a tribute to the professionalism of the bookseller and the librarian, who play a real cultural and social role, well beyond the purely economic aspect of the shop or mere conservation and deposit of the object-book. It’s the people that make the place, and this also happens in public libraries and bookshops. This project has been presented at the BA Book 2021 festival, during which a 24’ video essay edited by Paolo Castelli, lecturer at the Milan Polytechnic, was shown. The video-essay, Cinema Bookshop Librerie nell’immaginario cinematografico, is a short sentimental journey through those films which tell about bookshops: facades of bookshops, casual or gallant encounters, bookshops and booksellers at the service of customers, books browsed, book covers, shelves... from Heaven can wait by Ernst Lubitsch (1943) to The Bookshop by Isabel Coixet (2017).
The Social Bookshop and the Public Library is intended to be a map, initially with the appearance of a traditional paper guide, to then become an app, video-installation, multimedia path and all the other forms in which it can evolve. It is a hybrid, a liquid, a restless itinerary, open to changes and to the many deviations and wander- ings that may be encountered.
DOWNLOAD OUR APP
PROJECT TEAM
Francesca Boragno
Bookseller since 1981, founder of Galleria Boragno (located on the first floor of Corte di Via Milano 4, home of the historic bookshop Boragno, today Busto Libri Mondadori Store). Past President of Comitato Commercianti del Centro Cittadino di Busto Arsizio (a city center shopkeepers committee) from 1990 to 1993. For over 30 years event manager for the Galleria and library systems, departments of culture of neighboring cities and associations such as Duemilalibri in Gallarate, the Book Festival in Samarate (in collaboration with VareseNews), and B. A. Book in Busto Arsizio. Producer of the short film CinemaBookshop, presented at B.A Book on May 9,2021. Creator of The social bookshop and the public library project.
Paolo Castelli
Graduated in History of Cinema from DAMS, Bologna, lecturer in History of Contemporary Art and Visual Communication Languages within the degree course on Communication Design at Politecnico, Milan. Professor of Film Language at the two-year post-diploma Photography course, Centro di Formazione Professionale Bauer (CFP Bauer) and Istituto Cinematografico Michelangelo Antonioni, Busto Arsizio. Currently executive director of the B.A. Film Festival. Former consultant for communication and training projects for Luxottica, curator and executive producer of the cinema educational series Arrivano i video: il linguaggio del cinema (Videos are coming: the language of cinema), for regione Lombardia. Author of the videos: Library Runner: biblioteche e bibliotecari nell'immaginario cinematografico (Library Runner: libraries e librarians in the cinematographic imagination-1991); Il buio amoroso: spettatori e sale nell'immaginario cinematografico (The amorous darkness: spectators and cinemas in the cinematographic imagination - 1994); video-ritratto di Bruno Munari: Mu come Mu-nari (video portrait of Bruno Munari: Mu as Mu-nari - 1996); video- ritratto di Vico Magistretti: Ma estria come Magistretti (video-portrait of Vico Magistretti: Ma estria as Magistretti- 2000), for Medialogo (audiovisual service of the Province of Milan). Former curator of festival Cartoonia & dintorni: viaggio nel cinema di animazione (Cartoonia & Surroundings: a journey into animation film), Busto Arsizio.
Leonardo Errani
Vice-president of the Associazione Culturale Librai in corso (a cultural association of booksellers), Rome. Organizer of professional training courses for both booksellers and aspiring booksellers, manager for cultural events such as book presentations, literary festivals, school meetings. He provides customized consultancy for the opening, management, enhancement and analysis of new bookshops.
Elisabetta Farioli
Editorial director of ArteVarese (online weekly magazine of art and culture). She collaborates with Rete 55 with tv ,cultural reports. Founder of Spazio Arte Carlo Farioli and president of the namesake cultural association. Media relations contact person.
Silvia Gallo Stampino
Born in 1982, she lives in Busto Arsizio. In the summer of 2005, a friend lent her a reflex camera for the whole season, so she started her reportage on day-to-day life she encountered during her travels and not only. Through photos and videos she secures moments that would otherwise be lost and, without any poses or great maneuvers, they relive in close contact with the observer. Not just stolen glances or gestures, but also roadside scenes where life is what it is, without any spotlights. She defines herself as “Uncontainable and Insatiable” with her snapshots. She will keep shooting as long as she has storage.
Angela Grassi
Professional reporter for the newspaper La Prealpina, Varese.
Valentina Guerra
International relations manager, graduated in Political Science, international field. A passionate reader, she reviewed books for Lombardia Oggi, cultural supplement of the newspaper La Prealpina, and takes part in writing contests. She lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from 1997 to 2000.
Andrea Salatino
Graduated in Historical Sciences (Librarianship) in 2019, he acquired several skills in the book and publishing field, including proofreading for RCS MediaGroup from 2017 to 2019, through activities and workshops in the university field. In 2020 internship experience as assistant librarian at Busto Arsizio public library. He’s currently carrying out an internship at the Cultural Office of the city of Cairate, ending in September 2022, which provides him with important notions of public and administrative law (accounting, political orientation and contracts - resp. 237/2000, 241/1990, 50/2016 and ss. mm. ii.) fundamental to understand the relationship between companies and public administration. In the past year, he continued to exercise his librarianship skills, dealing with users and risky situations in this area. He takes part in educational and development projects and regularly collaborates with both Galleria Boragno, providing cultural support to the management, and Biblioteca Capitolare in Busto Arsizio.
Rita Murgia
Lawyer of the Milan based Barberi Bellini Rondinone Santaroni and Partners law firm. Expert in industrial law - intellectual property - unfair competition
Adele Palmieri
54 years old, graduated in Political Science from UniversitĂ La Sapienza, Rome. She lived in Turkey (2000-2003) and Belgium (2009-2013). Active in the cultural field: teacher of Italian language at Centro Culturale Italiano Carlo Goldoni, Smyrna and Izmir University of Economics (2002); speaker at the exhibition on the Last Supper shown in various locations in Busto Arsizio, including Galleria Boragno and the church of San Michele Arcangelo (2015-2017); speaker at the exhibition on life and works of Vincent Van Gogh, held at the Associazione Boschessa, Busto Arsizio (2019). Author of a literary column in a community newspaper, which aims to raise awareness of reading (2017-2019). Other skills: watercolor painting and drawing
Luna Protasoni
Graduated in Communication and Art Education from Accademia delle Belle Arti di Brera (Academy of Fine Arts), she specialized in Museum and Art Anthropology from Università Milano Bicocca. Currently enrolled in the master's degree course in Anthropological and Ethnological Science at Università Milano Bicocca. Civil service volunteer at the Museo delle Culture (Museum of Cultures) / MUDEC in Milan from 12/2019 to 12/2020. She’s in charge of the texts and graphic map of the guide.
Mario Tesauro
Creative director of the blog il rullo.net. Expert in editing, video editing and multimedia processing. Currently specializing in directing from Istituto Cinematografico Michelangelo Antonioni. Together with his father he founded Officina Tesauro, an incubator for graphic, painting and satirical drawing projects.
Valeria Valli
Born in 1975, Piedmontese by origin and Lombard by adoption, she’s been living in Olgiate Olona since 2015. Graduated from Liceo Classico Daniele Crespi, Busto Arsizio and graduated in Modern Literature from Università Cattolica, Milan. Her final dissertation: "Dino Campana in the readings of Laura Pariani and Sebastiano Vassalli ". She defines herself as: in love with words and lucky in having turned this love into her profession. She works freelance holding book presentations and collaborating as copy for companies and festivals. Author of texts and photos for the online magazine Discorsi Fotografia.