This open-air library is more than books: it’s culture, tradition, and a meeting point for locals and travelers alike in Palermo.
Before we dive into this incredible story, picture this: a quiet Sicilian alleyway overflowing with books, a retired accountant beaming behind the stacks, and passersby stopping to chat, browse, and swap stories. This is no ordinary library. It’s the life’s passion of one man who traded numbers for novels and built a literary haven in the streets of Palermo. Here’s how it all began.
From Number Crunching to Book Stacks
Imagine spending decades balancing numbers, filing ledgers, printing reports, and then, at retirement, deciding that what your life really needs is a mountain of books in a narrow Sicilian street. That’s exactly what Pietro Tramonte did. For years, he worked as an accountant in Palermo. It was steady, predictable, perhaps even a bit humdrum. But behind the spreadsheets and tax returns, Tramonte harbored a different passion: reading. He amassed a large private library.
When he formally retired in 2013, according to one source, rather than rest and enjoy the Sicilian sun, he turned what had been an impressive private collection into something magical. He set up his own public, open-air street library right in the heart of Palermo. It’s right there, out in the open, ready and waiting for people who love books as much as he does.
What began as a personal hobby, carefully caring for books at home, became a vocation: sharing literature with everyone. With that decision, Tramonte traded financial ledgers for dusty tomes, spreadsheets for paperbacks, and gained something much bigger: a purpose.
A Street Library With Heart (And Thousands of Books)
The result of Tramonte’s leap of faith is stunning. His “library” isn’t a polished, silent room in a building. It sprawls across a tiny alley near Piazza Monte Santa Rosalia, just off a busy Palermo street. Shelves, sometimes under tarps, sometimes under balconies, groan under the weight of tens of thousands of books.
Estimates of the size of the collection vary, but reports put it at anywhere from 45,000 to as many as 70,000 volumes over time. The books cover a wild mix, from novels to poetry, history, even old classics, and some stunning, rare finds. There’s no digital catalog, no formal system: this is as analog and as spontaneous as libraries get.
The rules, too, are charmingly flexible. Some books are for sale, others can be loaned or traded. Donations are welcome. Sometimes all it takes is a “like” on the library’s social media presence to take a book home. It’s delightfully quirky and a fitting nod to the modern age.
Resilience and Passion
And, right in the middle of it all, is Tramonte himself. He sits, just waiting, always ready with a recommendation, a poem, a story. Visitors come not only for the books, but for his conversation, wisdom, and a shared love for literature. For him, the library is much more than just business; it’s a passion.
When the city authorities threatened to close him down due to a lack of authorization and the library’s failure to meet public space regulations, the community responded with an outpour of support. So much so that local authorities got the message, calling the library a “meritorious action of grassroots cultural promotion.”
Voices From the Alley: What Visitors Say
One of the loveliest things about Pietro Tramonte’s library is how often people walk away talking about him just as much as the books. Visitors describe the experience less like browsing a street stall and more like wandering into a friend’s living room… if that living room happened to spill out into a Palermo side street and contain thousands of books.
One visitor reviewed the library, saying: “Molto più di una libreria… un luogo di vita, di cultura, di tradizioni.”, which translates to “Much more than a bookshop, a place of life, culture, traditions.”
Someone else called it a “beautiful travelling library,” and one review describes it as “an incredible place” with “thousands of books,” going as far as to say it is a “must-do experience for book lovers.”
Protecting and Sharing The Written Word
Pietro left behind a world of numbers for a world of literature, to share and distribute stories to those around him. In his own way, he’s protecting the written word.
Pietro Tramonte is a protector of the written word whose story appears in Protectors of the Written Word, alongside 24 others who have dedicated their lives to sharing the joy of reading. The book brings together inspiring stories from around the world for anyone who believes in the power of books. Order your copy to discover these journeys and be inspired to champion literacy and stories. You can order your copy here.
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Millie Ramm
Millie has been writing since she was a child, and has spent more time with her nose in books than anywhere else. She has been ghostwriting novels and editing for the past few years, and when not working she is curled up with her cats, looking for her next read.
