The president of the Italian
publishers' association (AIE), Ricardo Franco Levi, on Wednesday
sounded the alarm on the low percentage of readers in the
country, calling it a "national emergency".
"There is nearly no single parameter among those measuring
the state of health of education and culture in which Italy
doesn't rank at the bottom among European countries", he said in
a speech to mark the 150th anniversary of the association.
Stressing there is "very little time" to act, Levi said
"reading is an authentic national emergency".
Attending celebrations for AIE's anniversary, Italian
President Sergio Mattarella said "politics and institutions have
the duty to discuss with you publishers and to pass the most
effective measures to promote books and help develop reading",
the president said.
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