There is the precious thread of history sewing the edges of Taurianova Italian Book Capital 2024. That thin, stubborn and infinite thread, which binds together the identity of places, with its soul and its narratives, to translate its appearance into a luminous perspective aimed at the future. This is the bet, this is the hope.
The inauguration of the new “Antonio Renda” municipal library, celebrated yesterday afternoon, has laid the fundamental piece of the cultural project imagined by the administration for the “Capital challenge”. A significant step to officially kick off the path that will lead to the finish line of April 2025. Redemption of the territory, fight against educational poverty and promotion of culture as tools for inclusion and social transformation: these are the themes addressed immediately.
After seven years of closure, therefore, Taurianova returns to live its municipal library: in an evocative location ready to interpret the needs of a varied public, between traditional approaches, multidisciplinary digressions and projections on the digital horizon. The historic headquarters of the former municipality of Radicena in via XX Settembre, renovated by both structural and logistical works, houses around 20 thousand books, including the precious archive of the philosopher Antonio Renda donated to the city in 1959. A collection of over five thousand volumesamong which legal and medical texts dating back to the 16th century stand out.
In 2020 the change of pace. At the instigation of Maria Fedele, the beginning of a complicated but inexorable work towards the construction of a high-profile cultural hub. A journey with forced stages, full of enthusiasm and traversed by healthy participation, which crossed paths with the Italian Book Capital project. A perfect communion, capable of summarizing the ideas and horizons of a city that sees culture as the true engine for rebirth. «The reopening of the library is a project cultivated with determination over the last two years – explained the mayor of Taurianova Biasi -. It is among the pages of books that the true tools for transformation are found, the redemption we are talking about today.”
Among the opportunities offered by the new library, also technologies aimed at guaranteeing accessibility for fragile subjects, including a workstation for blind disabled people, and the “Bibliotaurus” app to encourage everyone to use the services librarians. «This is a first important milestone – stated the Councilor for Culture and artistic director of Taurianova Italian Capital of the Book, Maria Fedele –. We focus on the involvement of the territory, but above all on that of the youngest. Starting from the reopening of the library means starting our journey as a community to bridge educational inequalities, a key issue for us.” A “new history” which, according to Pierfranco Bruni, president of the Italian Capital Book 2024 Commission of the Ministry of Culture «will create a driving force for development through cultural processes useful to our South to become a real intermediary with the great capitals and cultures Europeans. Taurianova can be a concrete reference for the entire Italian culture.” Suggestions emerged clearly from the cutting of the ribbon. As if to mark a new era for the Taurianovese reality.
From today it will be time to live events such as “Taurianova Legge”, with its over forty events in just two months; the publishing fair, the “Born for Culture” project. According to the 2022 Save the Children report on educational poverty in Italy, in Southern Italy school dropout and young people's distance from reading are real emergencies. The project of the Calabrian town will also be evaluated on these fronts.
Also present at the inauguration event yesterday afternoon were Roberto Marti, President of the Senate Culture Commission; Clara Vaccaro, Prefect of Reggio Calabria; Emma Staine, regional councilor for Social Policies and Transport; Filippo Quartuccio, metropolitan councilor with responsibility for Culture; Antonio Marziale, Guarantor Authority for Children and Adolescents of the Calabria Region; Raffaele Tarantino, President of AIB Calabria; Maria Pia Cacace, member of the AIB National Executive Committee with responsibility for Training, Relationship with the territories, Reading Policy and Cultural Welfare. The event was moderated by the journalist and artistic co-director of Taurianova Italian Capital of the Book Piero Muscari. Closing of the day with the concert of the Saverio Arlia Wind Orchestra of the PI Tchaikovsky Conservatory, directed by Maestro Cettina Nicolosi and the opening of the artistic exhibition of Maria Morgante.