Libreria Antiquaria Umberto Saba reopens in Trieste after restoration

After a year of restoration funded by a fundraising campaign, the Libreria Antiquaria Umberto Saba in Trieste reopens on January 28, 2025. The 80-square-meter space houses over 28,000 antique volumes collected by poet Umberto Saba (1883–1957) since 1919 at Via San Nicolò 30/b. Saba described the shop as "a dark funereal cave" but spent the rest of his life there, relying on it as his main income during fascist persecutions. The reopening date marks the anniversary of Mario Cerne's death; Mario was the son of "Carletto" Cerne, Saba's trusted assistant who bought the bookstore after Saba's death. After Mario's death last year, the shop was left to the Jewish Community (owner of the walls) and then entrusted by the Cerne family to bookseller Massimo Battista. The restoration involved floors to ceiling, and a new logo by graphic designer Paolo Prossen will be unveiled. Battista plans to update the catalog with new acquisitions and host events, meetings, and book presentations. The shop also functions as a museum, displaying Saba's typewriter, desk, and some signed letters, as well as catalogs and volumes with notes or dedications bound by the Superintendence and thus not for sale. However, restrictions prevent adding food services or altering the wallpaper.