To guarantee an increasingly widespread presence across the country through a new bookstore format matching current trends and readers’ interests; to make a social-cultural service dedicated to books and entertainment available to the entire community; to use innovation and multichannel options to enrich the bookstore experience. These are the objectives of Mondadori Retail, which today opened a new bookstore in Rome in the Galleria Alberto Sordi, just a few yards from Palazzo Chigi.

With the latest store, the Mondadori Group company – which has opened more than 30 new bookstores in 2024, both directly managed and franchised outlets – thus takes another step in its strategic development plan, confirming its position as the most extensive bookshop network in Italy with more than 500 bookstores.

“The new Mondadori Bookstore in Rome is a milestone in the expansion of our network. We intend to continue strengthening our role as the key player in the business by creating socio-cultural centres throughout the country, from large cities to the smallest villages, for the widest possible audience,” said Mondadori Retail CEO Carmine Perna. “Reading and entertainment are essential tools for us to encourage sharing and interaction and promote dialogue between the generations. The new Mondadori Bookstore in Rome also demonstrates our ability to systematically integrate all our sales channels – direct, franchised and online bookstores – and the importance of the synergy among everyone in the network. This approach was decisive in achieving a result that is particularly important for us, the opening of our 50^th directly owned bookstore, which we are delighted to celebrate today,” Perna concluded.

The new Mondadori Bookstore

With the opening of the new Mondadori Retail bookstore in the Galleria Alberto Sordi, Mondadori Retail also consolidates its presence in Rome, where it has been active for more than twenty years with 6 direct bookstores and 17 franchised outlets.

The new Mondadori Bookstore is located in the Tritone arm of the monumental Galleria Alberto Sordi owned by Fondo Megas, a fund held 100% by Fondazione Enasarco and managed by Prelios SGR – a company in the Prelios Group and one of Italy’s leading asset managers – which in 2023 launched a major redevelopment and restyling project to turn Rome’s historic “drawing room” into a meeting place and landmark of the capital, as well as a strategic crossroads for shopping and tourism.

The store offers an assortment of 20,000 titles, from classics to contemporary fiction, and occupies a total area of 450 square metres. The format applies the distinctive Mondadori Store concept, in full harmony with the architectural elements of the Galleria. The bright spacious environment is distributed over three floors, providing perfect visual continuity with the surroundings and the city with its mixture of ancient and modern.

The ground floor displays all the latest from the book world – bestsellers, BookToks, thrillers, novels and local publications – and also has a stationery department.
The first floor offers the entire catalogue, from the great classics of literature to non-fiction, international books and Kobo eReaders, as well as a space for cultural events.
The basement is the domain of the younger generation, with the We are Junior department, where even the smallest children can find a rich selection of books, illustrated fairy tales and educational games, and the Just Comics department, with a wide selection of titles for fans of comics and manga, superheroes and graphic novels, as well as music products like CDs, vinyls and K-pop. Each floor of the bookstore is equipped with Trovalibro touch screens to help customers explore the merchandise, and automatic checkouts to simplify the shopping experience.

The store’s architectural design and layout is by Kallipigia Architetti, a firm founded by Elisa Innocenti and Giovanni Cipriani. Kallipigia Architetti are known for their ability to combine creativity and efficiency, handling every stage in a project, from the initial survey to completion, with meticulous care.

Events

Starting immediately after the opening, the new bookstore will host a rich calendar of events, including book signings and meetings with authors and personalities from the world of entertainment. The aim is to actively engage readers and foster cultural dialogue, establishing the store as a socio-cultural centre for the entire community. The program of presentations includes: 28 October, Sisters (Rizzoli), the first book by Paola and Chiara; 30 October, Cambio vita cercasi (Garzanti) by Francesca Safina; 5 November, Cento parole per raccontare una vita (Sperling & Kupfer) by Red Canzian; on 6 November, author Claire Dee will sign copies of her book Beyond the surface (Sperling & Kupfer). Subsequent dates on the calendar are 11 November, Il premierato non è di destra (De Agostini) by Nicola Drago, 12 November, Il sentiero dei dieci. Una storia tra Israele e Gaza (Piemme) by Davide Lerner, and 14 November, when Iginio Massari will sign copies of his new book, Giorni mesi anni di una vita intensa (Baldini & Castoldi). The first series of events concludes with the following presentations: 22 November, Il cielo su via Padova (Sperling & Kupfer) by Daria Colombo; 26 November, Bambino (Einaudi) by Marco Balzano, who will be joined by presenter Michela Ponzani; 2 December, La malacarne (Einaudi) by Beatrice Salvioni.

Partners

The partners of the new Mondadori Bookstore are: Altavia (for the communication concept and event organisation), Kallipigia Architetti (for the architectural design and bookstore layout), Res Contract S.r.l. (general contractor) and Mecad S.r.l. (bookstore interiors).