In Naples, Custodians of Culture
There was a time when the written word was endangered: Emperor Constantine had moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople; Rome and its surrounding areas were defenseless, falling victim to innumerable Viking raids, and Western Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages.
We will never truly know the extent of what was destroyed during that period, but fortunately, not everything was lost. In the remote corners of Northern Europe, a network based on the written word was developing among Christian monasteries where monks recognized the value of what was being lost. By deciphering, transcribing, and archiving ancient texts, they became custodians of the classical world. It was in these abbeys that the Renaissance was born.
Fast forward 1500 years. You will find neither marauding nomads from the North, nor the cultural upheaval of the scrambling of capital cities; yet, the written word was once again at risk. A shift in the habits and priorities of consumers prompted what the Italians refer to as la crisi del libro, “the literary crisis,” when book sales plummeted and bookshops throughout Italy began to close at an alarming rate.
Foreseeing a lasting and detrimental effect on culture and community, the Mazzei family, like the medieval friars before them, decided to play their part in counteracting la crisi del libro. In the early 2000s, they acquired a bookshop called the Libreria Colonnese, an epicenter for Neapolitan intellectual exchange since the end of WWII, and the Colonnese Editore publishing house, and they embarked on a mission to defend the written word and its place in the Digital Information Age.
The Mazzeis knew it was necessary to distinguish their libreria from larger, sometimes web-based competitors in order to endure la crisi, and their philosophy was simple: a book is more than a commodity to be bought and sold through impersonal commercial channels; it is a point of contact - one that facilitates the preservation and exchange of ideas and cultures, one that builds communities.
Rather than challenge international sellers at their own game, the Mazzei’s branded the Libreria Colonnese by carrying forward its fifty-year tradition of community-building through cultural dialogue, and offering niche texts with a strong focus on local Neapolitan culture. Nearly twenty years and two additional shops later (with a third on the way), the Libreria Colonnese is renowned among locals and tourists as a valuable Neapolitan cultural resource, proving that print is more relevant than market trends would imply.
Today, at the helm of the Libreria Colonnese is 24 year-old Francesca Mazzei (photographed below), a graduate of Italy’s most prestigious academy of librarian studies. When many of her peers left Italy to pursue career opportunities abroad, Francesca chose to devote herself to her family’s tradition of cultural stewardship. She hopes that the Libreria Colonnese will serve as a beacon for other Italian cities to offer rich, authentic cultural experiences and that the work she and her family do will inspire small Italian businesses to embrace their local heritage and share it with others.
You can visit the Libreria Colonnese at any one of their three locations:
Via San Biagio dei Librai, 100
80138 Napoli, Italia
Mon-Sun 10:30 - 19:30
Via San Pietro a Majella, 32/33
80138 Napoli, Italia
Mon-Sun 10:30 - 19:30
Viale Giulio Douhet, 2/a
81100 Caserta, Italia
Mon-Sun 8:30-18:45 (Tues. Closed)