Book fair — turn to the left! Book fair — turn to the right! Oooh… book fair!

We are the bookworms and we’re coming to town — beep-beep! (*)

(*) with my apologies to the late David Bowie, although I think he would’ve understood my excitement, being a bookworm himself...

Book fairs and festivals are to me what Milan Fashion Week is to fashionistas, and I’ve been looking forward to this year’s edition of Più Libri Più Liberi for what feels like eons to me.

Inside “La Nuvola” (the cloud), the convention centre designed by Massimiliano Fuksas in which Più Libri Più Liberi takes place — photos by me (2019)

The last edition I’ve been able to attend was the 2019 one, just days before my thyroid surgery and just a bunch of weeks before the first lockdown. I missed last year’s edition because I didn’t want to leave my Dad at home as if everything was ok, because it wasn’t; I missed the 2021 edition because I was still afraid I could’ve involuntarily brought the virus home (since sarcoma developed in Dad’s lungs, and by then he had already undergone surgery twice, plus he also was on anticoagulants, so the risk for him was too high); and the 2020 edition was cancelled because of Covid…

l-r: the Nuvola convention centre, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas,in the EUR neighbourhood, and my friend Chiara Calpini on duty at the Manifesto Libri stand.

In 2019 I went there on St. Ambrose's Day with my friend Susanna, although we were quite in a rush as we both wanted to get back home in time for the live broadcast of the Tosca première from Teatro alla Scala, where our mutual friend Alfonso Antoniozzi was going to sing the role of the sacristan…

It really feels like a lifetime, but it was just four years ago.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Italo Calvino’s birth, so there are a few events and talks dedicated to him during the fair…

…plus there are a few people I'd like to see there — my friend Gaja Cenciarelli, who is hosting a few panels, and also Riccardo Falcinelli, who will talk about human imagination and AI on 10th December, just to name a couple.

And I need to buy a couple of books my niece asked for as Christmas presents (I love it so much that both she and her brother enjoy reading, it looks like all the books I've kept on giving them over the years have done their job!), and perhaps presents for a few other people, too.

This weekend, instead, is dedicated to cleaning my flat — there's no way I'll ever go down the minimalist route, I love baroque stuff, after all… Still I must get rid of quite a few things I don't really need anymore.

I don't see it as space-clearing, though, more as mind-clearing: I need to make room for whatever will come next in my life, and that means emotional space rather than physical space. I’ve been through so much, honestly, I don't need a constant reminder of all that clogging my home and my mind, that’s paralysing and not sustainable on so many levels (plus, I remember everything on a daily basis anyway, and that is already more than enough to bear…).

That's why I also want to reorganise my home office: same corner of the living room as always, but more functional for me.

So, say goodbye to my old home office, because next time I take a picture of this place it will look completely different from this:

Sorry I have to get rid of this beautiful desk I got from a thrift shop many years ago, I like it very much but its legs are severely worm-eaten, it's already been treated twice to try and solve the problem but to no avail, so it's time to say ciao-ciao to it... 😢