Once again this year Loano obtained the status 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 municipalities committed to continuously carrying out public policies to encourage reading in their territory. The same award, which lasts for two years, had also been given to the city of Doria in 2019.
During 2018, the Municipality of Loano presented to local cultural associations the new “Pact for Reading,” which 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.”.
Loano's “Covenant for Reading” 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.”.
By joining the Pact, the associations had confirmed their willingness to support and participate in cultural projects promoted by the administration. Most notable among them was “LOA Reads in Every Corner,” a large review dedicated to reading that included spontaneous reading events in different areas of the city. In 2017, the “LOA Reads in Every Corner” project had received a favorable evaluation by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities as part of the calls related to the “City that Reads.”.
“Given the success of the previous two editions,‘ note Mayor Luigi Pignocca and Culture Councillor Remo Zaccaria, ’this year we would have liked to propose an even richer and more diverse edition of ‘LOA Reads in Every Corner.’ Unfortunately, the emergenda from Covid-19 forced us to cancel this and all other events that involved aggregation of people. But the Loano ‘that Reads’ will not stop: for the month of August our culture office (in synergy with the associations in the area that have signed the ”Pact for Reading') is already working on the planning of some activities in line with the prevention requirements from Covid-19.".
