{"id":17652,"date":"2019-01-10T20:42:19","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T19:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=17652"},"modified":"2019-01-10T20:43:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T19:43:35","slug":"italys-smallest-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/italys-smallest-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy’s Smallest Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our previous blog, A Positive Message For The New Year<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, we looked at 9 of the 33 individuals who were praised by il Presidente della Repubblica, Sergio Mattarella<\/strong> in his new year’s honours list. Today we’re going to focus on another fascinating individual who’s on that list: Antonio La Cava.<\/span><\/p>\n

We’d been planning to write about Antonio La Cava for a while, but as he was recently named Commendatore dell\u2019Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana<\/strong>\u00a0(Knight Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic) for the huge commitment that he has made throughout his life in promoting cultural values, this seems like the perfect opportunity.<\/p>\n

La Cava, 73, is a former primary school teacher from Ferrandina, a small village 35 km from Matera in the heart of Basilicata. In October 1999, of his own initiative, he began travelling around the sparsely inhabited region of\u00a0Basilicata in order to take books to children living in remote areas. Initially, he did this at weekends and during the school holidays, but since his retirement 8 years ago, La Cava has enthusiastically been making the rounds every day.<\/p>\n

In 2003 he bought himself a second hand Ape, the ubiquitous little three wheeled truck made by Piaggio, and transformed it into a mobile library able to carry up to\u00a0 700 books which he baptised il Bibliomotocarro<\/strong>. La Cava’s arrival in the remote villages is heralded by loud music emanating from the Ape. He parks up in the main piazza or the playing field, where most of the children are likely to be.<\/p>\n

La Cava explains:
\nIo ero figlio di contadini,\u00a0 abitavo in un sottano, in fondo c\u2019era la stalla dell\u2019asino e quando la mamma spegneva l\u2019unica\u00a0 lampadina di casa,\u00a0 io,\u00a0 appassionato lettore di fumetti, accendevo una candela che con la sua luce fioca\u00a0 mi confortava e riscaldava<\/i> profondamente.<\/em><\/strong>
\nI was the son of peasants, I lived in a small underground habitation with the donkey’s stable down at the end, and when my mother turned out the only light bulb in the house, I, who was a passionate reader of comic books, lit a candle, which comforted and profoundly warmed me with its dim light.<\/em><\/p>\n

He goes on to talk about his aims:
\nL\u2019idea del Bibliomotocarro \u00e8 nata molti anni fa con l\u2019intento\u00a0 di richiamare l\u2019attenzione sulla crescente disaffezione nei confronti del libro da parte, soprattutto, delle nuove generazioni, affascinate ed attratte sempre pi\u00f9 dai nuovi mezzi di comunicazione di massa.<\/i><\/strong>
\nI came up with the idea of the Bibliomotocarro many years ago. My intent was to draw attention to the fact that the younger generation, who are ever more fascinated by and attracted to modern mass media, were becoming increasingly alienated from books.<\/em><\/p>\n

La Cava chose to use il motocarro due to its three main characteristics: popularity, humility, simplicity. Il Bibliomotocarro, he says, is just the right size for children, its humility puts them at their ease, and because of its reduced dimensions it’s able to bring the books right into the heart of the community, creating a sense of familiarity and friendship for children who live in villages without a library or a bookshop. On average La Cava lends out around 450 books a week.<\/p>\n

Giro i centotrenta comuni della provincia di Matera, ma anche quelli della Puglia e della Campania. Ci vado con il bibliomotocarro, facendo anche cinque o sei ore di viaggio. Nel corso di questi anni ho percorso 170mila chilometri a bordo di questo motocarro.<\/strong><\/em>
\nI travel around the one hundred and thirty municipalities of the province of Matera, and also those of Puglia and Campania. I go with my bibliomotocarro, sometimes travelling for five or six hours. Over the course of these years I’ve travelled 170 thousand kilometres aboard this motocarro.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/IWTlTPV2YUk<\/p>\n

Here’s a longer video without English subtitles … and without the silly American cowboy music that for some bizarre reason they chose to use in the first video!<\/p>\n