"When I was a child, in my home, in my father's study, there was a huge library.
I stayed in there and I had free access to everything. I read about astronomy, politics and even the encyclopedia!"
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met Laura Togni, the bookseller in Borgo Santa Caterina for thirteen and a half years, so she could tell the story of her business.
She made a courageous choice: a former administrative manager of a large multinational in the area, mother of two children and in 2005 she decided to leave her comfort zone. That safe space we often cling to in order not to destabilise ourselves or not to worry those around us. She decided to start doing the work that her heart had chosen for some time: reading books.
For her, books and reading are almost never just a fleeting moment but a relationship. From the moment you enter a bookstore to buy a gift, asking yourself the first questions and then asking it to your bookseller.
"The person you are looking to give the book too, what are they like? Because the gift is not only the object itself, but rather the gift that you will leave with them."
If you give a book to someone who is very sad, you must first think about what is needed for their sadness or how to cure it at least a little.
“I'm not an easy bookseller - adds Laura with the sweetness of those used to talking with children - I spend a lot of time getting to know who the recipient of this or that book will be, because I know that after reading it there will be the moment of reprocessing. And this is what, calmly, will bring the real gain of reading."
Because there is no doubt that a book can change, overwhelm, transform, and that often everything passes from a single moment of amazement.
And, to cultivate this precious ability to wonder, Laura has been organising story time for both children and older people for years. "Because wonder is for living and we all need it, especially adults!"
"When we read aloud for someone, we expose ourselves, let our emotions resonate and this is where the relationship with the other really begins, the mutual exchange. This is why - she tells us - it is so important that stories are read aloud to children. The earlier you start, the better. And you need to turn off your cell phones."
Laura spends a lot of her time choosing books for the store. Every single book is carefully screened also through evaluation with other booksellers and perhaps within social groups. "Yes, that's the good side of Facebook!" she says with a smile.
So, in the small shop in Borgo Santa Caterina, you enter to 'take a look' and you get lost in the wonderful worlds of the books on display or left open, in plain sight, on the table for those who cannot wait to get home to start their adventure.
"We want to prepare more and more advanced readers - she explains -, that is, those who have listened to stories from when they were in the cradle and who already at around eight / nine years old know how to choose their books."
They go in, look, read a few lines and decide.
While gently leafing through the pages of the last illustrated book, she tells us of two little sisters - grandchildren of a merchant in Borgo Santa Caterina - who, on the opening day of the bookshop, sat on the ground and stayed until closing time.
The older sister read for the little sister.
They continued to do so throughout their childhood and adolescence.
And still today they come past at least once a year to say hello and to help out in the Christmas period.
From readers to young booksellers.
With Laura, there is also Franca, travel companion from day one, and "backbone and great expert" of the library.
They are photographed among the shelves and seem to be as light as the pages of a book, as intense as written words and gentle like those spoken and whispered aloud.
The Libreria Fantasia is a place of kindness, one of those places that is good for you to visit with assiduous frequency: it nurtures wonder.
"When I was a child, in my home, in my father's study, there was a huge library.
I stayed in there and I had free access to everything. I read about astronomy, politics and even the encyclopedia!"
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we met Laura Togni, the bookseller in Borgo Santa Caterina for thirteen and a half years, so she could tell the story of her business.
She made a courageous choice: a former administrative manager of a large multinational in the area, mother of two children and in 2005 she decided to leave her comfort zone. That safe space we often cling to in order not to destabilise ourselves or not to worry those around us. She decided to start doing the work that her heart had chosen for some time: reading books.
For her, books and reading are almost never just a fleeting moment but a relationship. From the moment you enter a bookstore to buy a gift, asking yourself the first questions and then asking it to your bookseller.
"The person you are looking to give the book too, what are they like? Because the gift is not only the object itself, but rather the gift that you will leave with them."
If you give a book to someone who is very sad, you must first think about what is needed for their sadness or how to cure it at least a little.
“I'm not an easy bookseller - adds Laura with the sweetness of those used to talking with children - I spend a lot of time getting to know who the recipient of this or that book will be, because I know that after reading it there will be the moment of reprocessing. And this is what, calmly, will bring the real gain of reading."
Because there is no doubt that a book can change, overwhelm, transform, and that often everything passes from a single moment of amazement.
And, to cultivate this precious ability to wonder, Laura has been organising story time for both children and older people for years. "Because wonder is for living and we all need it, especially adults!"
"When we read aloud for someone, we expose ourselves, let our emotions resonate and this is where the relationship with the other really begins, the mutual exchange. This is why - she tells us - it is so important that stories are read aloud to children. The earlier you start, the better. And you need to turn off your cell phones."
Laura spends a lot of her time choosing books for the store. Every single book is carefully screened also through evaluation with other booksellers and perhaps within social groups. "Yes, that's the good side of Facebook!" she says with a smile.
So, in the small shop in Borgo Santa Caterina, you enter to 'take a look' and you get lost in the wonderful worlds of the books on display or left open, in plain sight, on the table for those who cannot wait to get home to start their adventure.
"We want to prepare more and more advanced readers - she explains -, that is, those who have listened to stories from when they were in the cradle and who already at around eight / nine years old know how to choose their books."
They go in, look, read a few lines and decide.
While gently leafing through the pages of the last illustrated book, she tells us of two little sisters - grandchildren of a merchant in Borgo Santa Caterina - who, on the opening day of the bookshop, sat on the ground and stayed until closing time.
The older sister read for the little sister.
They continued to do so throughout their childhood and adolescence.
And still today they come past at least once a year to say hello and to help out in the Christmas period.
From readers to young booksellers.
With Laura, there is also Franca, travel companion from day one, and "backbone and great expert" of the library.
They are photographed among the shelves and seem to be as light as the pages of a book, as intense as written words and gentle like those spoken and whispered aloud.
The Libreria Fantasia is a place of kindness, one of those places that is good for you to visit with assiduous frequency: it nurtures wonder.
