The Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, announced this evening that Ivrea will be the Italian Book Capital 2022. It follows on from Vibo Valentia in 2021.
The mayor of Ivrea, which is close to Turin said, “[It’s] A great opportunity for the area. We will network on the themes of reading and culture.”
The Ivrea project is based on Olivetti’s concept of “Community.” It beat rivals from Aliano, Barletta, Costa di Rovigo, Nola, Pistoia, Pescara, and Pordenone.
The Ivrea Project
The jury, headed by Marino Sinibaldi president of the Centre for Books and Reading, was convinced by Ivera’s avant-garde cultural project.
Ivrea said it wants to become a place of experimentation for the enhancement of reading. They imagine the book as the starting point of knowledge, learning and development. In the proposal, based on Adriano Olivetti’s project, they see the book alongside the economy, cultural, social, and urban growth of the territory.
It is an idea of the future that the ministerial commission rewarded for the ability to network multiple energies from all over the territory. For imagining a future of books and reading that includes digital dimensions of the cultural experience.
Sinibaldi said “All the cities presented very interesting projects and it was difficult to choose. We judged them on the basis of quality, originality, but also the ability to innovate and propose new elements.”
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Events and Prize of the Italian Book Capital 2022
Ivrea will receive €500,000 from the government to conduct events, projects and infrastructures presented in their plan.
In 2020, Italy passed a decree law setting up the event. Its aim is to encourage activities that promote reading in reference to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Stefano Sertoli, mayor of Ivrea commented, “We are really happy with this recognition; the result of a great job in which we deeply believed. Ivrea will be able to share the extraordinary cultural heritage that it preserve with all of Italy and be the stage for everything that revolves around the world of books for a whole year.
“We wait here for readers, writers, publishers, booksellers to create together the Manifesto for the future of the book. And to give life to a year that really makes reading a collective heritage.”
