Naples, "I'll Start Again with Books": a Success on the First Day

The cultural event "Ricomincio dai libri" (Starting Again with Books) got off to a great start. The evocative house of stories, the State Archives of Naples, located just steps from the famous Via San Gregorio Armeno, home to precious documents that tell the city's history, was transformed yesterday, September 22nd, from a traditional place of silence to a wonderfully bustling abode thanks to the large number of visitors—already on the first day, despite it being a weekday—drawn by meetings with prominent authors.

The large outdoor spaces of the prestigious host structure, the Chiostro dei Marmi and the stunning Chiostro del Platano, have been consecrated—once again—as a place of culture, welcoming, in the former, the numerous publishing houses present at what promises to be a very successful edition of the Neapolitan book fair.

The Filangieri and Catasti halls, meanwhile, provided a magical and elegant setting for the writers' meetings. Attending the event were names such as Enrico Galiano, Manlio Castagna, Cristina Cassar Scalia, Daniele Mencarelli, Andrea Vitali, Patrizia Rinaldi, Paolo Di Paolo, Francesca G. Marone, Titti Marrone, and Antonella Lattanzi—an integral part of a high-quality program curated by Director Lorenzo Marone—enlivening the opening day of the 2023 literary event.

On this same first day, Ricomincio dai libri, with a varied cultural offering, has also successfully held real creative workshops, held in rooms specially titled with the names of some of the most famous works of Italo Calvino, to whom this year's event is dedicated. The rooms: "Barone rampante" and "Visconte dimezzato" were in fact the venue for the following workshops: journalism, theatrical play, creative and humorous writing, for children aged 10 to 13.

At 10,30 and 16,00, instead, the Chiostro dei Platani was transformed into the theatre of “Readings aloud” by the Tells Italy Association of San Giorgio a Cremano, which transformed the plane tree in the cloister of the Historical Archive into the tree of stories.

This weekend therefore provides us with an excellent resource of cultural entertainment not to be missed, something that can revive the spirit and make us free. Patrizia Rinaldi, author of the character of Blanca, the visually impaired commissioner who inspired the Rai series of the same name, knows this well. In her speech yesterday she stated: “Entertainment is a form of freedom from the present, which I deeply love […] my project is to trap hope in a book”.

https://www.ricominciodailibri.it/programmaricominciodailibri/

Annamaria Cafaro

Daniele Mencarelli author of the book “Hunger for Air” together with Lorenzo Marone

Andrea Vitali, author of the book: "Parents Wanted", together with Gianluca Calvino;

Paolo Di Paolo author of the book “Romanzo senza umani”

Patrizia Rinaldi author of the book “Guaio di notte”, with Sara Bilotti, also a writer