Biblioteca Comunale "Angelo Rizzello"

Established by the municipality on 20 September 1991, the Angelo Rizzello Municipal Library is one of Porto Cesareo’s cultural institutions. Its earlier community projects documented local life through oral histories, a photographic archive and reading initiatives.

Why it matters

The municipality’s founding record gave the library a role in safeguarding and promoting the town’s cultural heritage. The institution also described itself as “the memory of the city,” linking its civic purpose to Porto Cesareo’s maritime identity and local history.

What to notice

Projects documented on the library’s former website include “I Racconti del Mare,” an oral-history project with fishing families, and “La nostra storia in una fotografia,” a digital archive of historic photographs. Other past initiatives included “Reading Point,” “Come in una favola,” and the itinerant “Ape Cultura” project, which brought books to different parts of the municipal territory.

Context and history

The library was named for Angelo Rizzello and established in 1991. Its projects show how a municipal library can become a place for recording community memories as well as supporting reading. The documented initiatives connect stories of fishing, family photographs and cultural activities with the history of Porto Cesareo.