Where books mean the world – Italy

Mobile librarians on the road. They bring books to places where people live on the margins or on the sidelines and the nearest book is just too far away. They take us with them on their journeys and introduce us to the world of their readers. In this episode of the five-part documentary series, we are with Antonio La Cava in Italy. Basilicata is a sparsely populated region between Calabria and Puglia in southern Italy. In ancient times, this barren stretch of land was called Lucania. The small town of Ferrandina sits enthroned on a rock above the river Basento. Here, Antonio La Cava was a maestro, or primary school teacher, for many years before retiring and reinventing himself as a teacher. With his Bibliomotocarro – a sky-blue Ape converted into a little house – La Cava chugs through the region, bringing books to children in small, remote places. In doing so, he has fulfilled his dream and became a street teacher. We accompany Antonio La Cava on his tours, which take us to a farm in Putignano, Apulia. Here, many children are already waiting for the highlight of the summer holiday games, the Bibliomotocarro. In Castelmezzano, a picturesque town in the “Little Dolomites of Lucania”, we learn what the “libri bianchi”, the white books, are all about. And we will travel to Matera, the European Capital of Culture in 2019 – the first city in southern Italy to hold such a title. Of course, we will also visit the car mechanic Vincenzo Papandrea, who designed the Bibliomotocarro and makes sure it runs.