Do what you love and the whole world will support you. About the amazing library of Pietro Tramonte.

The air smelled of late summer, but a string of cars and scooters, as well as people passing me in a hurry, reminded me that this is not the time of vacation. The inhabitants of Palermo were dressed in long pants and sweaters and I walked in between them in shorts and smiled at the sight of their surprised looks. I knew it was almost winter for them, but who living in Poland would refrain from wearing summer clothes in November for a few days?

This time in Sicily put me in a good mood. Not only because the tourist season has long ended and everywhere I was treated as a rare, but very welcome species (on the first rainy day I spent on the island I sat alone in the garden of a restaurant and three waiters served me at the same time), but above all it was a good feeling that there is another place a few hours by plane from home that I will miss. For the first time in a long time I went on a journey alone and Palermo thanked me for this courage with many interesting places that I encountered and amazing local people that I met.

When discovering a new city, I adhere to only one rule – no rigid plan and map. First, I get to know more or less how to get back to the place of accommodation, and then I go ahead into the city. Sometimes I venture into a side street where something attracts me. In Palermo, this method worked perfectly. I was now walking along the main street Via Roma, looking for a starting point. Finally, my attention was attracted by the arrow with the question – “Old books?”. There was no way not to check it out. Finally escaping the hustle and bustle of Via Roma, I ventured into a small street, and then another and another. The arrows continued to lead straight ahead, tempting with an unspecified promise. Finally, I found myself at my destination, which already had so many signs that it would be difficult to overlook.

Around the corner (with the inscription Biblioteca Privata Pietro Tramonte) there were hundreds if not thousands of books that piled up under the balconies on either side of the narrow street. In the adjacent square, corridors formed of book shelves writhed. Under one of them sat an elegant elderly man in a casket, reading a book. As soon as he saw me, he put down the book and followed me with his eyes. I was just taking pictures of the street and for a moment I got scared that he might not want it, but after a while I noticed that he was beaming with such joy and pride that it was definitely not about that. He was clearly waiting for me to ask him about something.

“Are you the owner of this place?” – I started shyly, and he was just waiting for it. He jumped up from his chair and began to show me around these book corridors. Between words about books, he began to tell a story … about how it happened that he created a library on the street of Palermo.

Mr. Pietro Tramonte has been an accountant all his life. Literature, however, was his passion – he had a large collection of books, which he care of after work in the comfort of his home. He wrote poems – many of them in Spanish – in his wife’s native language. A dozen years ago, when his retirement was inevitably approaching, he began to be troubled by the question – is it time to realize his passion? He was sitting at home among a growing number of books and suddenly made a decision. He had to share this collection! Suddenly he stopped the story, turned and ran to the position where he had read before. He began to pull out folders from the pile of papers with photos and various documents. There were numerous newspaper clippings. It turned out that this library was considered one of the most unusual in the world! The owner of the library proudly showed me references to it. Texts about it have appeared in dozens of languages. Mr. Pietro looked at me uncertainly at one point and said – they haven’t written about us in Polish yet! I and even the hat felt that it would need to be changed.

Mr. Pietro then told us about how long he thought about how and where he could share his love for books with others. In their conversations with their neighbors, they came to the conclusion that their district was actually perfect for it. In Palermo it rains very rarely, so it is possible to arrange suitable conditions for storing books outside. And so he slowly began to implement his plan. News of the library / bookstore on the street began to spread quickly. It turned out that the inhabitants of Palermo have huge amounts of books in homes with which they do not know what to do. And so began the great drift of literature! The whole community was involved in completing the collections, which became the showcase of the district and then the city.

“So many years I wanted to make my dream come true and they all seemed to be waiting for it.” – he concluded. Is he regretting that he did so only in retirement? Definitely not, because “now he has time to really enjoy it.”

These words and the whole meeting in the library filled me with such optimism and a dose of good energy that I did not want to leave. I strolled through the shelves clogged with books and tried to absorb the feeling of fulfillment hanging in the air. Mr. Pietro said that it was the implementation of this plan that made him feel happy. He sits every day a few hours a day surrounded by books, and people come to him to talk about them. Some books are for sale, some can be rented or exchanged. “The form of cooperation is negotiable” – the originator of the street library sums up with a charming smile.

Before we said goodbye, I listened to a few poems and stories about the life of this unusual librarian, which I promised to leave for myself. Finally, he asked me to say a number out loud. He came to the shelf with Italian poetry and guided by this number, he chose a book for me. Anthology of contemporary Italian poetry. “I think it will be useful someday,” he said, handing me the book.

I left the meeting with Mr. Pietro, who was already talking to someone else and telling his story again.

I came back to the feverish Via Roma and headed in a completely different, unknown direction, I wondered when the time of fulfillment would come for me. Perhaps this meeting and joy in Pietro Tramonte’s eyes was a sign to stop waiting? Who knows. “Everything is happening in its time,” Mr. Pietro also told me, and reassured by that thought, I started looking for another street that would call me back and tell me its own story.