Imagine arriving at a tiny village, nestled among the mountains and with only two residents, and crossing a street made entirely of books: laid out side by side, like colorful tiles, thousands of volumes transform the entire lane into a gigantic open-air library.
It’s not just a fantasy, because in the tiny village of Tagliata this literary street really exists, but only for one day a year: the small hamlet of Costa Serina, in the province of Bergamo, for that day now special brings to life a unusual experience, carrying the wonder of reading to the heart of this little village in the Serina Valley.
But in Tagliata the project also has a more “permanent” soul: over time a true open-air and diffused library has developed, with books that remain an integral part of the village and that make reading a constant element in the landscape, not only during the annual event.
In Tagliata Returns “A Street of Books”
After the success of the first edition, the original initiative “A Street of Books” returns, which comes to life only on Tuesday, August 11, 2026: from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, about 7,000 books cover the main street of Tagliata forming a scenographic literary carpet 75 meters long in which to let oneself be carried and inspired.
Compared to last year, the books have more than doubled: there were about 3,000 in 2025. And anyone who holds one of the 3 bags with the event logo will be able, from 9:30 PM to 10, fill it with books.
The project, made possible thanks to donations, originates from the idea of Giovanni Cortinovis, deeply connected to the village thanks to his family roots: in the course of a single edition he managed to transform Tagliata into a true destination for lovers of reading. The August 11 appointment marks the second edition of the initiative, included in the broader summer program “Librandosi nel Borgo di Tagliata.”
The concept is as simple as it is astonishing: for one evening books step out of the shelves and take possession of the street. Visitors can walk among thousands of covers, let themselves be drawn by the titles, and experience the village in a completely different way. A unique installation in the world that, as the event’s dedicated social page explains, “has a deep meaning, because the street symbolizes movement, stepping forward toward others or even toward knowledge; evolutions made possible by reading.”
The initiative also has a very concrete component that goes far beyond the scenic effect: giving books a second life. Volumes that might have been forgotten, already read, donated or destined to be circulated again thus become an opportunity for encounter. The village, inhabited by very few residents, returns to life, filling up with people, curiosity and culture.
In the Village with an Open-Air Library
Tagliata is a small fraction of Costa Serina, in the heart of Val Serina, and today still preserves the gathered and authentic look of mountain hamlets. It is a village with ancient history, crossed by a stretch of the old Via Mercatorum, the historic road that linked Bergamo to the valleys and the Alpine passes.
Once it was a centre decisively more important than it may seem today: it had its own administration, a church, a cemetery and even a factory with furnace and a clay quarry used for producing tiles and bricks. After a brief stint as an autonomous municipality, in the nineteenth century it was definitively annexed to Costa Serina.
Today the village is almost uninhabited and comes alive mainly during the fine season. The real surprise, beyond the annual event that animates the village, is the summer library of the town, which has progressively transformed into a distributed library, with books spread across several points of the village: beside the small church dedicated to the Our Lady of Sorrows, rebuilt in 1836 on the traces of an older chapel, among stone houses and flowered lanes, countless stories await to be read.
Yes, because the philosophy of Tagliata is precisely this: to borrow books without deadlines (or keep them forever if they have won over the reader) and the freedom to leave behind some of your own for future visitors. It is one of the purest acts of love toward culture and humanity: a demonstration of how much you can trust people, leaving them something precious without knowing if and when it will come back.
Tagliata thus becomes a place where the mountain landscape meets in the most original and moving way that of literature: an unusual place where strolling literally means walking among thousands of stories written on the indelible pages of books.
Where It Is Located and How to Reach It
Tagliata is located within the territory of Costa Serina, in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, in the Serina Valley area.
To reach the village from Costa Serina there are two options. Both start from the area of the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Neve at Forcella: one is a narrow municipal road that follows a stretch of the ancient Via Mercatorum, while the other is the easier Provincial Road 27 of the Serina Valley (the most convenient route for those arriving by car).
Tagliata can also be reached on foot, for those who want to combine a scenic trekking route with a visit to the literary village: following a route included in the local hiking network that begins from the upper part of Costa Serina, one reaches the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Neve at Forcella and then continues along the road to the hamlet.
