Top Ten Tuesday: Bookshops in Rome I Am Excited For

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics

• 20th June: Books on My Summer 2023 To-Read List
• 27th June: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023
• 11th July: Freebie: Books Set in Rome
• 18th July: Books With One-Word Titles
• 25th July: Ten Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish
• 1st August: Forgotten Backlist Titles
• 8th August: Books I’ve Read/Want to Read Because of Top Ten Tuesday

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Benvenuti a The Book Lovers’ Sanctuary, questa settimana aggiorno il blog da Roma!

Well, technically I am not in Rome yet: I fly out tomorrow and am scheduling this to post on Tuesday! I am currently experiencing that Christmas Eve feeling: I think everything is ready, I am looking forward to tomorrow, I am anticipating that something will have been forgotten! Tickets printed? Check. Currency? Check. New clothes? Check, and it will be a change to wear clothes that fit – apparently I am a 28 inch waist now, who knew? – and oh my god my first pair of loafers! So Italian. So freaking comfortable!

At the moment, my wife who has never been abroad before, is distracting herself by going to see a pony and my daughter who is autistic is distracting herself with Roblox. And she has been very anxious and nervous about the flight, the crowds, the not knowing what people are saying, bless her. For me, finding food that she will be prepared to eat is my worry: her diet is so limited, and although she eats pasta (without sauce except ketchup) what we cook here will be very different in texture to proper pasta… and texture is, I think, her biggest sensory issue with food.

Another question, which is perhaps more pertinent to the blog is what books we are taking. My daughter has selected Asterix and the Legionary as her Roman inspired reading – I loved the wordplay in the Asterix books! – and Howl’s Moving Castle as her comfort familiar read.

And I have selected The Lies of Locke Lamora, as a comfort read that I have been meaning to get to for so long! And Babel as an audiobook. I’m also bringing Shy by Max Porter – adore Max Porter! – and Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry to start the Booker Longlist read. I mean, I am bringing my kindle so those plus a couple of thousand others, but those are the ones I’m intending to read…

And of course we will be doing all the usual tourist sites (at the busiest time of year and coinciding with a national holiday): The Colosseum, The Vatican, the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps, il Trastevere… and hopefully we will be able to pop into a few bookshops. Because, of course, books!

So these are the ten bookshops I might be most interested in seeing… such a shame that we only have 6 days there! And whilst I may have taught myself some Italian – enough to have a good go at a GCSE exam and sort of get the gist of an Italian newspaper – I have no real concept of Geography or where these might be in relation to each other!

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Libreria Palazzo Esposizioni, Via Milano

Some say this is the coolest bookshop in the city. It doesn’t have a particularly good selection of books in English, however the space is modern and dynamic and it’s worth just browsing all the inspiring coffee table books on art, design, photography, architecture, travel and gastronomy. When you’re done drooling over aspirational hardcover stuff you may not be able to afford, you can pop over to their cafe Palombini Esposizioni for a snack.

Feltrinelli, Via V.E. Orlando

Le nostre libraie e i nostri librai vi aspettano per consigliarvi il libro più bello. Quello che non avete ancora letto.

While no longer a Feltrinelli International, this bookstore still has a range of international books in languages other than Italian. If you’re looking to stock up on the latest titles from around the world or browse a great range of dictionaries or grammar books for studying Italian, this is the place to get the job done. They have an impressive selection and good prices.

Libri Necessari, Via degli Zingari

We love this store firstly because of its cute name, validating vintage books as an imperative as opposed to a bit of whimsy to lie unopened on a pretentious coffee table. This place is worth a visit because it’s a tiny little hole-in-the-wall secondhand bookstore where true book lovers will find a real treasure trove of Italian and foreign language books with genres as vast as poetry, philosophy, cinema, literature, political science, children’s fiction, magazines and even old theatre scripts.

Libreria Trastevere, Via della Lungaretta

This adorable little bookshop is located in the heart of Trastevere near the beautiful Piazza di Santa Maria. As an indie bookstore, it’s the perfect place to find lesser-known books and titles from smaller publishing houses. One night a week (usually Wednesdays) they host a book reading of some of their personal favorites. They hold a pretty good selection of foreign language books, particularly in English, and a wide range of genres.

Open Door Bookshop, Via della Lungaretta

These guys have been saving bookworm expats for the past 30 years in Rome with their great selection of English, French and Spanish books. There’s an eclectic mix of genres and they also stock and buy secondhand books. They often host small concerts and book presentations and their whole philosophy is very much for those who take pleasure in browsing for the perfect escapism on the page. You get the feeling here that this bookstore is for real readers and the selection of titles will not restrict you to the usual bestseller list in English, which often is all us expats can get our hands on. Highly recommended.

Almost Corner Bookshop, Via del Moro

Just a few steps from Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, this little bookshop is the perfect place to go to escape the hectic pace of city life and get lost in a good book for a couple hours. Locals love coming here because it’s a taste of Trastevere that hasn’t faded away in the fast developing neighborhood full of commercial and noisy shops. Almost Corner has a beautiful assortment of new and used books in English where you can find classics as well as some newer titles.

Fahrenheit 451, Piazza Campo de Fiori

Since 1989 in Campo de ‘Fiori, the bookshop/library Fahrenheit 451 has carried a wonderful selection of books new and old. Especially attentive to the visual arts, cinema, photography and theater, it is the ideal place to spend your evenings in search of the newest novel or one of your favorite classic stories that can be harder to find in other bookshops.

Libreria Caffè Bohemien, Via degli Zingari

Filled with artwork, good food and an excellent selection of books, Libreria Caffè Bohemien is a friendly café and bookshop that guarantees a good time. Inside you will also find a beautiful grand piano that’s open for everyone to play. So stop by, find a good read, discover your hidden musical talent, and choose from their savory selection of wines or maybe grab a hot cup of tea.

Lo Yeti, Via Perugia

If you are looking for a place to get away from the frenetic pace of the capital, Lo Yeti is the place to go. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, the staff is friendly, and it is a place locals love to retreat to. Also famous for their food, Lo Yeti carries cuisine from breakfast to dinner so you can kick back with a good read, grab a savory bite and relax for a while.

Libreria Spazio Sette, Via dei Barbieri

How many stories behind every single corner of this city!

This bookshop is in Palazzo Cavallerini Lazzaroni, a building built by the cardinal Cavallerini in the 1600s. After it’s construction this building became so many things, to mention some: the first school for deaf-mutes in the 1700s, the location of the National Bank, a contemporary art space for exhibitions… and since last year a bookshop, called Libreria Spazio Sette You can find this bookstore near Largo Argentina, in via dei Barbieri.

For my daughter the inclusion of cats makes this last one a favourite!

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So, apologies for going off-piste with this topic, which should have been “Characters from Different Books Who Should Team Up” suggested by @WhatCathyReadNext which is an excellent blog and well worth visiting to add to your TBR – I do whenever I visit it!

And there may well be some non-bookish posts related to Rome on the horizon!

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Upcoming Top Ten Tuesday Themes

August 22: Genre Freebie (Pick a genre and build a list around it.)
August 29: Water (This can be covers with water on them, books with bodies of water in them, titles with bodies of water in them, etc.)
September 5: Books That Defied My Expectations (books you thought you would didn’t like that you loved, books you thought you’d love but didn’t, books that were not the genres they seemed to be, or in any other way subverted your expectations!) (Submitted by Sia @ everybookadoorway.com)
September 12: Favorite Character Relationships (These can be platonic or not. Romantic relationships, parent/child, siblings, family bonds, friendships, found families, pet/human, etc.)
September 19: Books on My Fall 2023 To-Read List
September 26: Secondary/Minor Characters Who Deserve Their Own Book
October 3: Reading Goals I Still Want to Accomplish Before the End of the Year (We’ve just begun the last quarter of the year! What bookish goals would you still like to accomplish? If you participated in TTT’s Bookish Goals for 2023 topic this past January, update us on which goals you’ve achieved, which you’ve given up on, and which ones you’re still working on!)