The Book Exchange, Salt Spring Island
Hopefully you are reading this story because you are a booklover or, like us, you like to travel. Possibly both! I love it when I can combine my love of reading with my travels. One of my favourite volunteer jobs ever, is to spend two hours a week in our local Book Exchange. This little house has floor to ceiling book shelves. People in our community come in to donate books they no longer want to keep. Volunteers shelf them in categories. And anyone is welcome to browse and take home free books - from hardcover Margaret Atwoods to Shakespeare plays. From cookbooks to Harry Potter, and everything in between. I love being there and seeing the eclectic mix of books donated and adopted by people who live in our island. One of the job hazards is the amount of books I find and bring home. However, I can always bring them back. And in the process I have found a book that caused me to travel to Morocco, books that enriched my trip to India, books that taught me the history of my own home, and much more.
I was delighted to find these titles to take with me on my recent trip to Italy and loved reading the first one in Venice, the second one in Tuscany!
But besides many good books (BOOKS) Italy also has ownderful book places for booklovers! While doing research for my upcoming book More Than Books, Why The World Needs Libraries (Orca Books, 2027) I learned about the oldest public library in the world. When I discovered that it was in Cesena, Italy, I decided to make a visit happen.
Cesena was a couple hours by train from Florence and more or less on the way to Venice. We got up early and hopped on the train. From the Cesena station we walked through leafy streets, until we reached an ancient city wall and entered the old part of the city.
Before leaving home, I had booked a tour of the library online. A lovely young woman greeted us and led us, and a small group of Italian visitors, through the building. Downstairs is today’s public library with current books, computers, a vibrant children’s area and more. But upstairs, across from an exhibit area, is the Unesco World Heritage Site that preserve the oldest public library in the world: Bibliotheca Malatestiana.
And well preserved it is. There is no electricity, no air conditioning, not even lighting in the historic library. it is much the way it was when it was first build in 1447!
The light falls perfectly onto the desks and the 300+ codices that are still chained to them. The temperatures year round keep the books in perfect condition.
The hallowed hall of books.
Cesena was a lovely place to tiptoe and whisper through an ancient monument to books. The man who originally conceived of the project, and financed it, did not want the books only accessible to the church. He wanted his community to be smart and informed. Therefore, once the library was completed, he formed a Board of both friars and city councillors, making the library the first public one in the world.
These hallowed halls were quite a contrast to the bookstore we found in Venice. I was excited to have read about Acqua Alta online and made a point of asking our Intrepid tour guide about it. He was quick to add the popular bookstore to our walking tour of Venice.
Even though it is billed as ‘The most beautiful bookstore in the world’ I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that title. But it certainly is one of the most unique bookstores in the world! We joined the throng of tourists wanting a peek inside. It would have been hard to actually shop for books here as we had to keep moving with the hordes.
Inside the main bookshop, was a gondola filled with books. But most visitors didn’t stop to shop. They filed in the front door and out the back door to the main attraction.
A gondola full of books.
Outside the back door, bordering the canal, was a wall and staircase build of books… Acqua Alta, or high water, bookstore mirrors the city in which it is build, with a gondola, local books and staircases.
It felt weird to climb on books…
Don’t tell any lies!
After Venice, we visit Tuscany with its poetic rolling hills and tall green cypresses. The medieval city of San Gimigiano is not only picturesque with its city wall and tall traditional family towers. It is also the birthplace of Pinocchio, the world famous book character. Pinocchios in all shapes, sizes and formats can be bought here, from t-shirts to aprons, from keychains to life size puppets. It’s always great to see such popularity for a book character.
Long live Pinocchio and all other books!
After Italy, we went to Burgos, Spain where we came across this wonderful children’s bookstore.
