Books are everything. Books are life (Inge Feltrinelli)

INGE FELTRINELLI

Reduce the extraordinary human and cultural adventure of Inge Schoenthal Feltrinelli to a holy card from the book Cuore, would be the worst way to remember her. We are talking about a woman who, with her husband Giangiacomo and her son Carlo, has marked Italian publishing and cultureWith his own pace: volcanic, eccentric, aimed at a mix of passion and business. Scents of literature, politics, and money.

ALSO READ: Filippo Nicosia, the writer who invented Pianissimo. The van for distributing books on the streets.

WHAT INGE FELTRINELLI LEAVES US AS A LEGACY

As Italians we have at least three reasons to say thank you to Inge Feltrinelli. The first is linked to the powerful publishing house catalog, something that, with the blockade of the other giant made in Italy, Einaudi, has formed entire generations of readers, of men and women. Not all masterpieces, but certainly all worthy of reading, attention, and care: Italian culture has become less provincial, has entered the major international circuits, thanks also to Inge Feltrinelli.

Secondly, this woman fighter nshe has never been discouraged by the army of Italian non-readersFaced with the numbers of a population where half the citizens have never read a book, and where there are more authors than readers. She fought openly, even with feminine grace and elegance, against the mass ignorance of Italians, starting with our ruling class that never misses a fight on TV but never even opens a book. And sometimes boasts about it.

Finally, it is thanks to her that today we have a large chain, the only one in Italy, of libraries that still stand up to the powerful competition of Amazon and the destructive fire of non-readers. Feltrinelli's are places to be protected, to be cultivated: strongholds of civilization, before love for the bookIf they weren't there, Italy would be a poorer country, in every sense.

TO KNOW MORE: Libraries can be saved by transforming them into entertainment venues, with cafes and restaurants.

WHO WAS INGE FELTRINELLI?

Then, of course, there are the errors of a woman Inge. Complicity with the pro-terrorist ideas of her communist husband, who disappeared in 1972 while planting a bomb on an Enel pylon. An ideological patina over Feltrinelli's entire catalog and publishing activity. But these are venial sins, compared to a passion that never stopped, risking herself with impossible bets, among which we must remember the scholar's latest masterpiece: the gigantic headquarters of the Feltrinelli Foundation in MilanWithout Inge, Italy is taking a step backwards, and not just in the book industry. Let's hope someone, or someone, takes her place soon. 

(The image is taken from the Facebook page . “the Feltrinelli”)

GOOD REASONS TO READ BOOKS:

• Benefits and advantages of reading: it increases empathy and improves our relationships.
• Books to read to children: how to introduce them to nature and waste prevention through reading.
• On the island of Alicudi, the memory of Franco Scaglia lives on in a large library between sky and sea.
• Book therapy, book recommendations for vacation reading: mysteries, romance novels, and how-to books. Because reading is healing.