Where? Torino, Italy
Recommended by: Cristina Cona
Cristina said: "Although the Libreria Luxemburg website describes it as having been founded in 1872, its present name and vocation as an international bookshop are relatively new. For about a hundred years its current premises had been those of the historic Libreria Casanova, a bookshop-cum-publishing venture which in spite of its name had absolutely nothing racy about it, but was in fact a very staid, respectable institution. Casanova had acquired a decidedly old-fashioned, not to say musty, image in the last few years of its existence, and when it was bought by Angelo Pezzana, the owner of a successful international bookshop called Hellas, sometime between the mid-Seventies and the early Eighties, that was indeed the start of a new life. Today, Luxemburg is a thriving, lively bookshop located in the heart of Turin city centre, at the corner with Piazza Carignano and only about a hundred yards from the main square, Piazza Castello. Among its main attractions are the well-stocked “Judaica” section and the English-language department, which is located on the first floor.
Sadly, however, anybody who had the privilege to visit the (truly outstanding) English-language section of the old Hellas bookshop can’t help feeling disappointed at the range and quality of its successor in Libreria Luxemburg. The upstairs rooms where the foreign section is to be found contain fiction and non-fiction in four languages (English, French, German and Spanish), plus language courses and dictionaries covering a number of other languages as well. The choice of English fiction is reasonably good (by this I mean that if you walk in looking for a decent novel to read, you’ll have no problem finding something adequate), but the non-fiction shelf is not very well stocked; as well as that, when I visited the shop the books were presented in no discernible order, neither alphabetical nor subject-based. True, there were so few of them, that I reckoned it wouldn’t exactly take the customer hours to check all the titles.
Downstairs, English-speaking visitors will find a few interesting books in the “Judaica” and travel sections, as well as a good choice of magazines, not only in English, but in French, Spanish and German as well."
Sadly, however, anybody who had the privilege to visit the (truly outstanding) English-language section of the old Hellas bookshop can’t help feeling disappointed at the range and quality of its successor in Libreria Luxemburg. The upstairs rooms where the foreign section is to be found contain fiction and non-fiction in four languages (English, French, German and Spanish), plus language courses and dictionaries covering a number of other languages as well. The choice of English fiction is reasonably good (by this I mean that if you walk in looking for a decent novel to read, you’ll have no problem finding something adequate), but the non-fiction shelf is not very well stocked; as well as that, when I visited the shop the books were presented in no discernible order, neither alphabetical nor subject-based. True, there were so few of them, that I reckoned it wouldn’t exactly take the customer hours to check all the titles.
Downstairs, English-speaking visitors will find a few interesting books in the “Judaica” and travel sections, as well as a good choice of magazines, not only in English, but in French, Spanish and German as well."
Libreria Internazionale LuxemburgAddress:
Via Cesare Battisti 7
10123 Torino
Website: http://www.librerialuxemburg.com
Phone and Email:
+39 011 5613896
info@librerialuxemburg.com
Working Hours:
Mon-Sat 8-19:30
Sun 10-13 & 15-19
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