
25.07.2012 / Arts & Culture
French Italians
The address is 61, rue Charlot, in the heart of Marais, the Parisian neighborhood of arts, design and independent fashion. A perfect location for the brave and admirable undertaking of a group of Italian thirty-somethings living in Paris. It’s called Marcovaldo and it’s a bookstore, a café, and above all a meeting place where everyone can discover Italian culture – literature, music, art and cuisine – avoiding the usual stereotypes.
Irene Pancaldi, Francesca Gatti and Francesco Artuso are the minds behind the project; each one of them specializes in a specific field: Irene welcomes the customers helping them find their bearings among the latest trends of Italian literature, Francesco is in charge of the film sector as well as of history and current affairs books, and Francesca, an art historian, also specializes in food design.
Along with art, which is constantly present in the boostore thanks to a series of temporary exhibitions featuring emerging artists, food and wine are a must here at Marcovaldo. The foodie events calendar includes some amazing workshops with Miranda, a cook from Bologna who’s ready to teach the Parisians how to make egg pasta, and the nice & healthy natural cuisine aperitivos prepared by Luca, a chef and a blogger from Rome.
A special mention goes to the bookstore’s name, inspired by Italo Calvino’s fictional character Marcovaldo, a naive and melancholy unskilled worker constantly looking for a green oasis in a huge city. In a sense, Marcovaldo seems to epitomize the spirit of these guys’ venture: creating an oasis in a foreign land where to share and spread their dreams and passions. In case you’re interested in the boostore’s events calendar, follow their @MarcovaldoParis twitter account.
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