Scugnizzeria lands in Vomero: it is the third bookstore in the cultural project born in 2017 from the initiative of Rosario Esposito La Rossa and Maddalena Stornaiuolo. The first venue, nicknamed “the book bazaar square,” at the border between Scampia and Melito di Napoli, has over the years become a meeting and growth hub, with workshops in theatre, photography and typography.
Nearly ten years later, the owners opened a new location, this time in Vomero, at Piazzetta Durante 1: the shop occupies the former Libreria Luce, famous for its arrangement of books by emotion.
A bookstore dedicated to Giancarlo Siani, victim of the Camorra
The new bookstore preserves the layout of the others, but joins the national Ubik bookstore network; it begins its journey under the name of Giancarlo Siani, a journalist murdered by the camorra at just 26 years old, to whom it is indeed dedicated.
During the opening, the ribbon was cut by his brother Paolo, and during the evening there was a marathon of readings of the journalist’s works.
In addition, Brickanti, a Neapolitan entity connected to the world of bricks and to the promotion of creativity, donated to Paolo and the bookstore two scale models of the Méhari, the car in which Giancarlo was traveling on 23 September 1985, the day of his murder. The typewriter that belonged to him will also remain in the bookstore.
The bookstore hosts more than 11,000 titles (with a broad selection of mysteries, romance and manga, but also works on art and politics), with spaces dedicated to author events. Inside, there is also a bar area.
The Story of Scugnizzeria
The two founders have always given great attention to the theme of organized crime: during the Scampia feud, the “Camorra war” that broke out in 2004, Rosario’s cousin—a young man with a disability who had been falsely accused of connections with the Colombian cartels—lost his life. From this emerged Vodisca, an association created by Rosario and Maddalena, a theatre company run entirely by local youth.
In 2007, Rosario published with the Neapolitan publishing house Marotta&Cafiero the book Al di là della neve – Storie di Scampia, which told the stories of mafia victims; the publishers were moved by his family’s story to the point that, when they moved to France for a new project, they decided to donate the business to Rosario and Maddalena.
The two therefore relocated the head office from Posillipo to Scampia; over time, from being the sole publishing house in the northern part of Naples, the bookstore and the various workshops were born.
And while Marotta&Cafiero continues to publish mainly non-fiction and fiction, at the Scampia site two new spaces were added in 2023 (purchased by the owners of the Milton bookstore in Alba) that host the Matta Pizzeria, which offers job opportunities to young people with disabilities.
