A while ago I was staying at Il Loggiato in Bagno Vignoni in Siena. It’s a lovely little place in a tiny (two dozen buildings?) spa town on the side of a hill. The accommodation was great, and the two sisters who run it put a lot of work into making a friendly, informal atmosphere; there’s a tray of fresh cakes and wine in the lounge for the guests to help themselves, and there was also a little stack of free books. Naturally, I helped myself liberally to all three, but here I’ll concern myself with the books.
The books are small but nicely produced paperback editions, printed for the most part in English and Italian (although other languages are often included), with half of each edition dedicated to each language. For example, one volume contains extracts from Goethe’s Italian diaries in English and Italian, while another features half a dozen short stories and pieces from the likes of Guy de Maupassant and Theodor Storm, this time in Italian and German.
A bit of digging (well, a look inside the cover of one of the books) reveals that the books are printed and placed by the Golden Book Hotel Association, a group of “hotels, country estates, restaurants” that have got together to give free books to their customers. They have a wide range of books, from H.P. Lovecraft to Pushkin, from the history of western films to collections of erotica. They’ve even published new writers, selected through their “Eureka” writing competition. Many of the volumes are printed specially for each hotel, with the hotel’s information directly on the cover; others are jacketed with it.
This is a really nice idea, and the kind of thing that Italians do well: it promotes the hotels both as individuals and as members of the association, and it provides a little free culture for all.
May 18th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
What a wonderful idea!
Often you just want something little to read whilst on holiday, and so many times what you packed is no longer what you want to read.
They look beautiful too.
Thanks for posting.
May 18th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Hi Tracy, thanks for commenting!
Yes, they are really nice little editions—they feel like good quality paper, too (or at least, it feels nice, which I suppose isn’t always the same thing…).
May 18th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
What a great idea — and a look at the association site seems to indicate that the hotels involved seem to be very good at other things as well. As you know, Mrs. KFC is heading to Italy this fall so she may be in touch regarding this initiative. Thanks for a most interesting post.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hi Kevin,
It is a great idea, and very nicely executed too. In fact, I’m beginning to think we should go back and scrounge some more books… I mean, enjoy the beautiful Italian countryside.
I’ll look forward to hearing from Mrs KFC.