Rome mayor to boycott opening of Più Libri Più Liberi.
Rome’s popular book fair Più Libri Più Liberi opens on Thursday amid a controversy over the presence of a publishing house accused of apologia to fascism.
The Passaggio al Bosco publishing house is accused of printing texts that glorify Nazi-Fascist and anti-Semitic figures and ideologies.
Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri will not be attending the inauguration of the national fair for small and medium Italian book publishing houses at the Nuvola, the city’s culture councillor Massimiliano Smeriglio confirmed.
“With all due respect to the organisers, we have a different opinion regarding the management of an explicitly neo-fascist, racist and anti-semitic catalogue” – Smeriglio said – “For us, anti-fascism is a constitutional obligation and an unwavering desire to respect the human lives that Rome, a gold medal [city] for military valour in the Resistance, lost during the years of Nazi-Fascist occupation.”
The row has prompted several writers and publishing houses to withdraw from the literary event, including leftwing satirical cartoonist Zerocalcare who said in an Instagram post: “Unfortunately everyone has their limits, this is mine”.
Around 100 Italian authors including Anna Foa, Alessandro Barbero and Antonio Scurati had signed a letter appealing to the organisers, the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), urging them to ban the allegedly ‘neo-Fascist’ publishing house from the fair.
The writers claimed that the publisher’s catalogue includes texts based on “the glorification of experiences and founding figures of the Nazi-Fascist and anti-Semitic pantheon, such as Leon Degrelle and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.”
However their appeal fell on deaf ears, prompting many of them to boycott the event, insisting they will “not share space with fascists”.
In response to the appeal, AIE president Innocenzo Cipolletta claimed that the contested publisher, like all the others, has signed a contract that explicitly states “the commitment to adhere to all the values expressed in the Italian constitution.”
Admitting that the appeal “touches on sensitivities that we share ourselves,” Cipoletta has proposed organising “a space and a moment of discussion within the event” to debate the topic and “reaffirm our commitment to respecting the values of our constitution.”
