The president of the Italian publishers' association (AIE), Ricardo Franco Levi, on Wednesday sounded the alarm on the low percentage of readers in the country, calling it a "national emergency".
"There is nearly no single parameter among those measuring the state of health of education and culture in which Italy doesn't rank at the bottom among European countries", he said in a speech to mark the 150th anniversary of the association.
Stressing there is "very little time" to act, Levi said "reading is an authentic national emergency".
Attending celebrations for AIE's anniversary, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said "politics and institutions have the duty to discuss with you publishers and to pass the most effective measures to promote books and help develop reading", the president said.
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