(by Mauretta Capuano).
The 17th edition of the Piu
Libri Piu Liberi (More books, more freedom) book festival saw a
high number of visitors, sold-out cultural events and a boom in
sales for publishing houses.
The festival of small and medium-sized publishers ended on
Sunday evening.
Hosted for the second year in a row at Nuvola in Rome's EUR
area, the festival organized by the Italian publishers'
association drew in 100,000 visitors - as was the case the
previous year - and most of the scheduled events were sold out.
The 545 exhibitors spread out over 3,500 square meters
achieved greater success in sales than the previous year, though
2017 had also been highly successful.
"We thought we would not be able to achieve the same results
as last year," the EDT publishing house said, "and instead this
time we were very pleased by the participation and type of
attentive and loyal public."
The Armando Editore publishing house also saw even better
results, as did 66thand2nd and Fazi, which stressed that "sales
were even higher than at the last edition and they more than
made up for the investment".
Add was also pleased, noting the "prefect organization from a
logistics standpoint, which made Piu Libri Piu Liberi a truly
wide-ranging event able to foster enthusiastic participation
from the public."
Resounding success was also seen for the 23 very crowded
events held in the Business Center, a new 500-square-meter
business and professional hub in the Piano Forum, curated by
Gino Piardi through his Italian design-centered Perrero
Experience project.
The project led to the doubling of both the number of events
- to over 600 - and the number of Italian entities taking part:
101 compared with last year's 45. Some 30 entities from 20 other
countries also participated.
There was a record high number of visitors to events held by
the Biblioteche di Roma in the Spazio Ragazzi and Arena
Biblioteche.
Some 6,000 people took part in the over 140 events for
adolescents and adults (1,900 in the Arena Biblioteche and over
4,000 in Spazio Ragazzi).
Also full to the brim were the 80 workshops for children and
a series of events with representatives from town councils and
other local bodies of the capital.
"Piu Libri Piu Liberi is a cultural workshop in constant
evolution that reminds everyone of the ability to create
excellence in Rome," festival director Fabio Del Giudice said.
Over 1,500 Italian and international authors took part in the
festival, which in the closing days included a visit by Rome
mayor Virginia Raggi with her son.
"This event projects the capital onto the international
scene. I would like to thank the publishing houses, the writers,
authors, organizers and citizens. See you next year," the mayor
said.
Lazio regional president Nicola Zingaretti added that "thanks
to the Buono Libro project by the Lazio regional, all pupils
attending primary and secondary schools went home with at least
one book in their hands."
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