The quality of reading in Italy is worsening, with a clear difference between north and south. According to what emerges from the analysis of the Observatory of the Italian publishers’ association (Aie) on Pepe Research data, 30% of people read in a fragmented way, dedicating themselves to this activity once a month, if not only in some sporadic isolated cases in the course of the year.
Considering all factors, the average weekly time dedicated to reading stands at 2 hours and 47 minutes, compared to 3 hours and 16 minutes last year, and therefore in sharp decline. The study was presented as a preview at Più libri liberi, the national fair for small and medium publishing currently taking place at the Nuvola dell’Eur in Rome.
Some read more and some read less
The data cannot help but cause concern: between 15 and 74 years of age, 73% declare having read a book (even in ebook or audiobook format), even just part of it, during 2024, against 74% of 2023. Looking instead at printed books alone, the figure drops to 66% (the previous year it was 68%). Women certainly read more than men: 72 versus 60 percent of the sample considered in the survey. As regards age groups, however, young people between 18 and 24 years old read the most (74%), followed by 15-17 year olds (73%) and 35-44 year olds (71%).
The decline in reading times and the number of readers goes hand in hand with the decline in the market and “confirms the need to return to supporting the demand for books in our country, especially among the youngest, creating a habit with books that continues in the throughout one’s life – explained the president of Aie, Innocenzo Cipolletta -. There is no cultural and economic growth and development for Italy if we do not grow readers, especially in the South and in the less prosperous areas of the country”.
Differences between north and south
Disparities in reading between northern and southern Italy are also confirmed by NielsenIQ-GfK data: the 79.2 million printed books sold in Italy in the trade market between January and October 2024, in fact, are distributed as follows: 35.8% in the north-west, 22.2% in the north-east, 22.7% in the centre, 19.3% in the south and islands. Looking instead at the number of bookshops per inhabitant, the north-west is above the national average – 0.28 bookshops per 10 thousand inhabitants – by 11%, the north-east by 17%, the interior by 7%. The islands, however, are below the average by 6% and the south by as much as 30%.
The delay of the south “is dramatic and cannot be resolved with extemporaneous interventions or interventions disconnected from an overall vision”, explains Florindo Rubbettino, IEA delegate for the south. Reading rates “depend on schooling, on the presence of infrastructures in the area such as bookshops and libraries, on support for local entrepreneurship, on local initiatives such as festivals, prizes, cultural events. A book system law cannot fail to provide for a plan for the South which aims to build an environment conducive to book culture by acting on all these factors, through public initiatives and encouraging private initiative”.
