The library of Palazzo Roberti in Bassano

We are inclined to believe that beauty is something natural, that beautiful things flourish spontaneously, almost the daughters of an astral conjunction or a lucky chance but this is never the case. Beauty is the child of time, the time needed by nature or man to put things in an order that will then amaze us.

One of the most beautiful bookshops in Italy is located in Bassano del Grappa and is the result of a mistake. A photographer and then industrialist (Lino Manfrotto) bought a historic building in his town, Palazzo Roberti, without realising that its lower floor was tied up as a bookshop, because that was how the historic Manfrin bookshop, which the palazzo housed, had tried to resist getting shut down. Manfrotto also bought the bookshop, and his daughters (Veronica, Lorenza and Lavinia) became passionate about the business. They started working, learing the trade in Italy and abroad, resisting Covid and delivering to our country a magical place for all those who love to read.

When one enters the building, one is captivated by the care, beauty, hospitality and quantity of volumes (more than 26,000) that the space contains. To support the enterprise, the three sisters invented, after the hard years of the pandemic, a festival called “Resistere” (life always puts you to the test and you must resist) and every year brings to town the best authors with whom the bookshop has a permanent dialogue.