Stacked, wet, rare and scattered books. Minuscule books, thick tomes, improbable titles, thrown out, and later retrieved books, books that have become steps in a staircase…
The atmosphere is lively, fun, almost surreal and the chaos that reigns over this bookshop is the ideal place for enthusiasts, second hand book fair lovers and people who are just curious about an unusual Venetian folklore.
At the entrance, a gondola literally flooded with novels, guides, architecture books, children’s albums, prints and vintage postcards will welcome you. The smell of paper and water. And more boats, gondolas, canoes and bathtubs that serve as shelves. Get lost in this sometimes-stifling maze of corridors, rooms, open spaces and glimpses of sky. You will find books in all languages, rarities impossible to find, magazines and refined volumes. Nearly one hundred thousand books. If you get past the first rooms and the wrought iron doors, you will go up the stairs made from books that were damaged by floodwater and later pressed.
Acqua Alta, in Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa, is all that you would not have expected from a bookshop. A place for meditated and passionate purchases.
F.B.
