Not wine, but books: the first book crossing in the cellar is born in Esterzili

The scent of must is now a distant memory. The wine barrels and bottles are empty, there is no longer any cheese on the shelves, but behind that blue door on Via San Michele which hides an old cellar with stone walls these objects, no longer used, have found a new life becoming original "shelves" to house books. This is how the first Book crossing in Esterzile was born, where anyone can leave the books they have already read and which they wish to continue to live and travel in the hands of someone else at the disposal of other people.

«However, we have broadened this concept by creating “reading rooms”: we are recovering small abandoned spaces in our country to make them become places where we can not only leave and take away books, but where we can stop to read, discuss, share the experience of reading", explains Antonio Puddu , psychologist and creator of the project who chose to live in Esterzili together with his family, "this is one of the ways we have thought of to reclaim and revive some of the many forgotten corners of our country".

It all started with the cultural association MagazZeno that Antonio created with his partner Valeria Boi , a young woman from Esterzili who has always been involved in the issues of ecology and sustainability in general.

The objective of the two young people is to promote and support active and participatory citizenship through the creation of spaces for aggregation, discussion and sociality . And they have already managed to involve several people from Esterzile in this initiative.

«The name MagazZeno – adds Antonio – indicates the cellars of our homes which often turn into places of sociality without too many frills. Some would say that nothing happens by chance, in fact the name also partly takes up that of our son Zeno, the only resident of Esterzili born in 2022, and perhaps one of the main reasons why we committed ourselves to this adventure: to leave it to future generations a better place to live."

But the strength of the association lies in the heterogeneity of its members, each with different professionalism, passions and characteristics . And for the future? «In the future we plan to create rooms for board games, music and art. But the film club will start soon with shows intended for both children and adults, and some workshops on herbs and their use; later on, however, we plan to implement a series of artistic and musical projects", concludes Puddu.