Vibo Valentia is the ‘Italian Book Capital’ for 2021. It was designated by the Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini after having received the indication expressed by the jury, chaired by Romano Montroni. Vibo Valentia has surpassed the competition of Ariano Irpino, Caltanissetta, Campobasso, Cesena and Pontremoli. To the Calabrian city, through the Center for Book and Reading, a contribution of 500 thousand euros for the realization of the project. The title of the Italian capital of the book went to the Calabrian city of Vibo Valentia unanimously because, as the motivations state, “it stood out for the quality of the initiatives presented, clearly displayed in which rigor and enthusiasm merge”. The basic idea of the project awarded by the jury “is to forcefully make the book enter people’s lives”. The competition that crowned the Calabrian city, according to the Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, creates “a virtuous mechanism whose results remain over time even if the competition is not won. This is a bit like what happens with the Oscars. I say because here I feel the same embarrassment that I feel in the proclamation, for some years, of the Italian capital of culture. There are many mayors, and they all deserve it. It is an important competition and, above all, this time it is the first and it will remain over time ” . The commission was chaired by Romano Montroni for whom the ‘race’ will leave traces in the 23 cities that, overall, participated in it. “It is an organizational scheme – he stressed in fact – that will remain over time because, through the response to the call, a whole series of energies have been activated in the individual cities that will bring benefits”. An initiative, that of the Capital of the Book, which was conceived, Montroni recalled, “in a country that is among the lowest in Europe in the reading indexes” although “fortunately in recent years, thanks to the support of the institutions, it is An organic policy for the dissemination of books and the promotion of reading has finally been launched. This minister must be acknowledged for having worked a lot in this direction “. Finally, words of great satisfaction were pronounced by the mayor of Vibo Valentia, Maria Limardo: “We are really making a great journey as an administration for the redemption of our community because my city has always been considered last in all the rankings. And us. we want to proudly be the first or, in any case, compete with our heads held high in Italy and in the world because Vibo Valentia is a beautiful, rich city, full of heritage, extraordinary beauties but above all it is made up of so many beautiful people “, he punctuated forcefully.