PISA – Between 30 September and 3 October Pisa returns to breathe.

It does so by combining the breeze of the Arno at the Pisa Book Festival, a space where reading, dialogue and exchange bring people to life.

The 70 independent publishing houses are well aware that in the Republican Arsenals attract the eyes of curiosity and enthusiasts magnetized by the covers, by the captivating titles, by the thirst to learn, know and enrich themselves that grows from stand to stand.

After talking to some of the small and medium-sized businesses in the area, the voice is unanimous: “let’s breathe again”. This absolutely does not mean that the problems are behind us, but it brings a lot of enthusiasm and hope in a world that cannot rely exclusively on online. Unlike large-scale publishing, in fact, the small and medium-sized ones have a limited circulation, and events such as the one taking place in Pisa are fundamental. Getting to know the reader, talking to him and letting him touch and appreciate a book are essential opportunities.

The presentations, the meetings with the authors are also back, and this can only be good for the sector. In fact, that rich, rare and privileged fabric that has a long writer, reader and work is gradually being reconnected. People rediscover themselves capable of hosting new ideas, of wearing the eyes of the writer. The book returns to circulate passing from hand to hand, to live.

Some publishers speak with enthusiasm, think big, expanding their borders even outside of Italy. Others do. incentivized to work again Others still claim to do this job exclusively for passion, not for a living, because otherwise they would have been lost. Finally, others are still healing their wounds after the severe setback of the pandemic; they watch with fear, they are uncertain where to place their trust, their hope. They look at this sketchy recovery with great suspicion.

The fiction, the cuisine, the entertainment have never given up, but one of the pillars for these publishing houses has been and remains the hard core of lovers of genre literature, the specialty that the house can offer, be it poetry, fiction , nonfiction.

Publishers protect and pamper this restricted, always striving to provide quality products that meet their refined needs.

The other column are the events, the live promotion, and for this reason many eyes that are behind the counters at the Republican Arsenals seem to say to this city that tastes of the sea: “Thank you”.