Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini has signed an agreement with the Director of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, Juergen Boos, naming Italy the 2023 Frankfurter Book Festival's Guest of Honor.
The agreement was signed in Rome in the presence of Italian Publishers Association (AIE) President Ricardo Franco Levi.
Boos said a "new spirit of optimism" is evident in the Italian cultural scene.
"After a dynamic turnaround and a drastic change undertaken in recent years by the Italian book market - including the consolidation of publishing houses, new bookshop concepts and the new 'Time for Books' fair in Milan - now you can feel positive energy everywhere," Boos said.
Boos said Italy's participation "won us over with an exhibition concept centred on tradition, cultural heritage and future viability".
"We're happy to be able to support this development over the next five years and to prepare an extraordinary presentation for the 2023 Book Fair," he said.
Franceschini said Italy's participation as Guest of Honor at the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair has a "strong symbolic meaning".
"It confirms the consideration with which our creative industry enjoys in Europe and worldwide, and it vigorously shows its vitality, its cultural strength and its economic value," Franceschini said.
"Thanks to this agreement, national publishing will have an enormous opportunity that I am sure it will fully engage".
Levi said AIE is "extremely proud of the important role that awaits Italian publishers" as part of the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair.
"This occasion will give Italy the opportunity to show itself as a first-class leader for an entire year on the German scene and to show its best on an international level, confirming publishing as the primary cultural industry of our country," Levi said.
"We are happy to have a small, but not negligible, role in this choice. Already now, starting in 2018, which is the European Year of Cultural Heritage, we can give the right value to the heritage linked to book publishing. We will do our best to prepare for our participation at the 2023 Buchmesse," he said.
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