{:en}Friday, March 9, Councillor for Tourism, Culture and Sports of the City of Loano, Remo Zaccaria, participated in the “Rethinking the City through Books” convention held as part of the international publishing fair “Tempo di Libri” in Milan. In addition to Councillor Zaccaria, the fair was also attended by other representatives of the 400 Italian municipalities that have received the title of “City that Reads,” a recognition issued by the circuit of the “Center for Books and Reading” (Cepell) in agreement with Anci and aimed at promoting and enhancing municipal administrations committed to continuously carrying out public policies to encourage reading in their territory. Loano is one of three Ligurian cities, along with Cervo and Genoa, to receive the recognition last year.
The initiative was an opportunity to illustrate the results of the first “Pacts for Reading,” present the winning projects of the 2017 calls dedicated to municipalities that have obtained the “City that Reads” status, and introduce the new public notice that will allow interested municipalities to participate in the network and join forces in the revitalization of reading.
The municipal administration of Loano launched its own “Pact for Reading” just these days. “The public institutions and cultural associations of Loano have a long tradition of cultural associationism,” recalls Mayor Luigi Pignocca. "This was formalized in 1984 with the establishment of the city's multipurpose cultural center in Palazzo Kursaal, which houses most of the cultural associations in the area. The center is open practically 365 days a year and thousands of users gravitate around it. But in our town there is a well-established activity of people who, gathered in interest groups and cultural associations, have given rise to varied experiences in publishing and publications aimed at preserving the memories and cultural identities of the country. It should not be forgotten, then, that since time immemorial the municipal administration has had a civic library, which over the years has increasingly become a point of reference for the promotion of reading in cooperation with educational institutions, cultural associations and bookstores in the area.".
“The educational institutions themselves (from kindergartens to preschools) pay a great deal of attention to ensuring that children are introduced to books in a pleasant and fun way, and it is with this in mind and experimental reading initiation projects aimed at pupils have been launched. Then, during extracurricular hours, reading initiation projects are carried out in the city youth center run by the Yepp association, which has also promoted courses dedicated to the 15/25 age group in creative writing. In order to make the children's journey to their respective schools culturally fruitful as well, the municipal administration decided to launch a reading project to be carried out during the Pedibus route. Meetings with local cultural associations are also held at the municipal retirement home, and a local publication on Lovran history and traditions was recently presented, the proceeds from which will go precisely to fund interventions in the retirement home.”.
Examples of initiatives aimed at the general public and aimed at achieving this goal are not lacking: “The ‘Culture Tuesdays’ in July and August; the ‘Books under the Tree’ review in December and January; the ‘Flying Disks... close encounters with sounds, music and words’ review in April and May; and the many reviews and book presentations promoted by Unitre Loano and Proloco as well as by local bookstores testify to this commitment, carried out not only by the municipality, but also by associations and citizens.”.
Giving organicity to this commitment, seeking to coordinate in an even more functional way the efforts of the municipality, associations, educational institutions and citizenship will be the “Pact for Reading,” which, as tourism, culture and sports councillor Remo Zaccaria explains, aims to be “a new instrument of the policies for the promotion of books and reading that the Municipality of Loano proposes to the country's public institutions, cultural and voluntary associations, and all private entities, which recognize in reading a strategic resource to invest in and a social value to be supported through coordinated and joint action at the local level. To this end, the municipal administration has decided to establish a coordination table aimed at monitoring and coordinating reading promotion activities and organizing joint actions to reach the greatest number of citizens, and has identified the town's multipurpose cultural center as the place to coordinate reading development projects.”.
The “Covenant for Reading” of Loano involves the country's educational institutions, bookstores,the municipal retirement home, cultural and voluntary associations, social services, local publishers, private businesses, citizens and all those who share the idea that “reading, declined in all its forms, is a common good in which to invest for the cultural growth of the individual and society an extraordinary tool for innovation and economic and social development of Loano.”.
The “Pact for Reading” aims to create a structured territorial network in order to “restore value to the act of reading as an essential moment for the construction of a new idea of citizenship.” Specifically, the pact aims to: recognize access to reading as a right of all; make the practice of reading a widespread social habit and promote, through reading, lifelong learning; bring non-readers (with particular reference to families in which there is a low level of cultural consumption), children (from early childhood and, even earlier, from the mother's pregnancy), new citizens (with particular attention to foreign immigrants), young people, the elderly (especially those guests of welfare and rest facilities) closer to reading; broaden the base of regular readers and consolidate reading habits, especially in children and young people; encourage coordinated and systematic action to multiply opportunities for contact and acquaintance between readers and those who write, publish, sell, lend, preserve, translate and read books, giving continuity and vigor to the initiatives to promote reading that have already been tested, always developing new and innovative ones, and creating environments conducive to reading.
The contents of the “Covenant for Reading” will be presented to area entities at a meeting convened for March 15 at 3 p.m. at the civic library auditorium.{:}
