Montereggio Book Festival

Montereggio, the Village of Booksellers

Perched among the woods of Lunigiana, Montereggio is a small hamlet within the Municipality of Mulazzo, in the province of Massa-Carrara, northern Tuscany. This village is famous throughout Italy as the 'Village of Booksellers': for generations, itinerant book peddlers set out from here with carts and stalls to reach squares and markets across half the peninsula, bringing reading to places where no bookstores existed. From that tradition, the famous Premio Bancarella was born a few kilometers away in 1952, now awarded in Pontremoli. The streets of Montereggio are dedicated to the great names of Italian publishing, and the town is the only Italian village included in the international network of 'Book Towns'.

The Book Festival

The Montereggio Book Festival pays homage to this unique legacy every summer. For three consecutive evenings, the village transforms into an open-air literary salon: presentations of new releases, debates on current events, meetings with authors, and a book market that enlivens the village alleys. The intimate and evocative atmosphere, nestled among stone houses and views of the Lunigiana mountains, makes this experience unlike any large city festival.

Meetings and Protagonists

The program alternates voices from literature, investigative journalism, and popular science, covering themes ranging from international news to memory, and from nature to the transformations of society and technology. Each edition also hosts the Silent Book Contest, dedicated to wordless picture books, demonstrating the festival's focus on visual storytelling and younger readers.

Flavors of Lunigiana

Alongside the cultural events, food stalls offer typical Lunigiana flavors, from testaroli to local products, to accompany the evenings. The Book Festival is thus also an opportunity to discover the food, wine, and identity of a still-authentic and little-known corner of Tuscany.

Why attend

• A literary festival in one of the most evocative villages of Lunigiana.
• Evening meetings with authors, journalists, and Italian cultural figures.
• The traditional book market among the alleys of the Village of Booksellers.
• Typical Lunigiana cuisine at the food stalls.
• Free admission and an intimate atmosphere in the heart of northern Tuscany.