Not Just Any Bookstore...Bassano del Grappa
While roving the streets of
Bassano del Grappa, this little day-tripper stumbled on an extraordinary
bookstore fashioned as a library in an ancient palazzo. Art and culture
have been joined in a meticulously restored edifice called Palazzo Roberti.
The building dates back to the 1600’s and thanks to painstaking
restoration, the palazzo presents a bookstore of the 21st century
cradled in the essence of the past. Just browsing books one has the opportunity to admire the high intrinsic value of the architecture, the
gardens, the statues and frescoes. Flanking the staircase is a
banister, a superb work of art in and of itself; the fat hand carved
wooden rail is supported by forged iron pieces resembling snakes. Today
the cultural center, situated on the "piano nobile," allows us to live
literature in the past during invitations and meetings with writers and
artists of today. This lovely palazzo conquered me as it also did for
Napoleon, who chose to reside there twice during his lifetime.
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