(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 19 - "On the occasion of the inauguration of the Turin International Book Fair, I wish to extend my warmest wishes to you, your collaborators, publishers, authors, booksellers and visitors. The 34th edition of this traditional cultural and publishing initiative takes place again in the presence of the public who, I am sure, will respond with enthusiasm and renewed interest, giving hope to confirm and, indeed, to increase the extraordinary increase in the number of readers which occurred during the lockdown.
Pier Paolo Pasolini, whose hundredth anniversary of his birth we recently celebrated, wrote: "You can read, read, read, which is the most beautiful thing you can do in your youth: and slowly you will feel enriched inside, you will feel that special experience that is culture ".
Books, reading - even with the new tools that technology offers us and which must be considered as enrichment - remain the essential basis of intellectual, scientific and cultural training.
Reading is a resource for society.
Reading makes you free.
The exchange of knowledge and culture creates bridges.
Books open to mutual understanding and dialogue.
Thanks go to all the economic operators of the book who have to continually compete with new challenges: from the price of paper and transport,
competition from new media and large multinational sales and distribution groups.
Supporting reading therefore means supporting the entire supply chain: printers, publishers, distributors and bookstores, with particular attention to independent bookstores which represent a precious resource for many of our citizens ".
This was written by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in a message sent to Silvio Viale, President of the Cultural Association of Turin, the City of the Book.
(HANDLE).