Daniela Piretti
Balla coi libri

Marcello Baraghini has been dancing with books since the early '70s of the last century, when he founded Stampa Alternativa. Directly from a sidewalk, where, with his radical companions, he preached in the desert, yelling about counterculture, divorce, abortion, conscientious objection, drugs, and everything that annoyed the Catholic, communist, fascist, and Christian Democrat churches. Stampa Alternativa published uncomfortable and annoying pamphlets and books. Baraghini, at least up to this moment, has received 127 complaints, all for offenses of opinion. He had to go underground after priests, and not just them, got angry over a book titled "Contro la famiglia, manuale di autodifesa e di lotta per i minorenni." It was 1975, the heart of the Middle Ages.

Today Marcello Baraghini is nearly eighty and continues to be a pain in the neck. He recently inaugurated his fourth (fifth?) editorial life: he founded, in the T.A.Z. of Pitigliano, the Strade Bianche di Stampa Alternativa, the sole heir of that publishing house now in the hands of some passing liquidator. "Balla coi libri" (Iacobelli Editore, 2023) tells the story of his life, his battle-hardened forays into the not-so-golden world of publishing. Daniela Piretti, his partner, pinned him to the microphone, forcing him to open up. The 197 pages of the volume recount a stubborn and proud publisher capable of writing fundamental chapters in the history of our country's culture. Even though few are willing to acknowledge it. Those few, moreover, are forced to surf through the garbage of regime books and the (fake) controversies about Susanna Tamaro who doesn’t like Giovanni Verga.

"Balla coi libri" is an anarchic book, devoid of precise temporal references. It jumps from one decade to another, only to go back and then get back on track. In the background, the difficult situation of Covid19, Italy shutting down, getting familiar with an English-origin term never heard before: lockdown. More than an interview, we are dealing with a fast-paced and direct dialogue capable of weaving through past and present, with both eyes looking towards the future. The moods of Marcello and Daniela intertwine in the recounting of episodes of various humanities, many of which seem to belong to another world. On the other hand, Stampa Alternativa's journey has been long and marked with great insights (do Millelire ring a bell?), but also moments of difficulty, errors, missed opportunities, and disagreements. And then there’s politics, particularly the Radical Party of that Marco Pannella who contributed so much to the civil awakening of our country. At a certain point, even Lucio Battisti bursts in. Or rather, a letter from him, sent to Baraghini, dated February 25, 1992, which once and for all denies the alleged right-wing sympathies of the musician from Poggiobustone.

Is that enough? Maybe not. Probably something’s missing. But the author has promised that sooner or later, a "Balla coi libri 2" will arrive. And maybe even a volume three. We wait with confidence.