A bookish kind of summer. A varied and exciting calendar of events in the public libraries of Milan ranging from classic book clubs, teen-age book readings, and theatre rehearsals, to on-line book sharing and exchange groups: ways to discover Milan through books about its history and its art, or crime novel group-readings voicing the stories of victims and criminals. Libraries turning into theatres and into countless different places to be discovered and interpreted, always with books guiding the way through a summer of great adventures.

“So, what is the most important aspect of shelf accessibility? One of the greatest misunderstandings about libraries is that we go to a library looking for a book of which we know the title. And that is often the case, in fact we do go to the library because we want a specific title. However, the main function of a library – at least this is the function of my home library and of that of our friends’ whose house we might visit – is that of discovering books we didn’t even know existed but that as we will discover are of the highest importance for us”. These were Umberto Eco’s thoughts on the matter. So let’s go and find these books this summer.

Opening image: Biblioteca Comunale Cascina Chiesa Rossa, Milan