About us

The Riflessi d'Arte APS-ETS Association was established in 2015 following an experience in the territory that began in 2010 under the name "Un'altra Martina". It has been registered with RUNTS of the Puglia Region since 2020 and operates in the field of culture, art and social activities, organizing art exhibitions, workshops for children and adults, theater shows and literary presentations on a constant basis, either self-financed or in partnership with the Municipality of Martina Franca, all without profit and without any compensation received by members and board members.

Legal and logistics headquarters: "Casa delle Arti" via Arco Casavola 7,8,9,10 Martina Franca TA

In 2022, the APS-ETS Riflessi d'arte acquired on loan a historic building located in the historic center of Martina Franca in Via Arco Casavola, a few steps from the central Basilica of San Martino, owned by the religious institute "Oblate di Nazareth". The building develops on three levels for approximately 600 square meters of surface area and houses the association headquarters as well as the numerous activities promoted by the association.

The rooms, at the time of delivery, were in a state of semi-abandonment, which is why the members, self-taxing and with the contribution of some local companies, began maintenance work that made the building almost entirely accessible and usable for exhibitions, events, presentations, workshops. Following the maintenance of the first floor, the building was named "Casa delle Arti".

One of the last rooms of the "Casa delle Arti" subject to maintenance and recovery by Riflessi d'Arte has been transformed into Libromat, the first automated urban book crossing. It is a single-access room located at number 10 of Via Arco Casavola and, therefore, falling within the projection of the building granted to the association. The premises develop over approximately 10 square meters and were unused as well as in poor hygienic conditions. The same, on the idea of the president of Riflessi d'Arte, Tonio Cantore, was completely recovered, equipped with an automated wooden access door and typical library furnishings (bookcases, armchairs, notice board, register).

Libromat is a "shared library", born to give book lovers the opportunity to exchange their read and used books, recovering others to read, all in complete freedom but with a safer and more welcoming conformation. The idea resumes what the association had already proposed in recent years. Every Friday, in fact, the association's rooms welcomed members for sharing their books, but over time it was realized that, although very interesting and shared as an idea, the chosen times or methods could reduce participation which, instead, the association strongly wanted to expand in numbers, feedback and message dissemination.

Hence the idea of free, electronic, 24/7 access with greater privacy.

Libromat is accessible 24 hours a day through a magnetic card that members can request every Friday afternoon, or by phone appointment, at the Riflessi d'Arte secretariat. The card is personal and valid for one year, issued through the subscription of the membership form and the payment of a symbolic fee useful for managing the expenses of the "Casa delle Arti" and maintenance work on it. The premises are also video-surveilled.

The member, simply by bringing the card close to the keypad placed on the access door, can enter the room where they find some bookcases that house several hundred texts divided by categories and cataloged through the application on each of them of a label bearing the Libromat logo and an archiving code.

The user can leave their used books, respecting the types indicated in the regulation displayed in the room, on an indicated shelf and take away other books present inside, noting what was left and what was taken in a register. There is also a notice board where the user can leave messages to request a book, communicate something or simply review the initiative. In the room there is a comfortable armchair, if you choose to read on site, a wi-fi connection and, above all, the typical silence of the historic center that favors recollection and careful reading. There is no obligation regarding the number of books left or taken: you can only leave, only take or do both with different quantities.

The objective of Libromat, and in general of the Riflessi d'Arte association through the numerous initiatives organized, is to spread the pleasure of reading and push young people and adults to purchase texts, fundamental for expanding knowledge and for building critical thinking. The desire to make book exchange autonomous was born precisely to allow as many people as possible, future members of Riflessi d'Arte, to approach reading according to their own times and fitting reading into their habits without a predetermined time slot or limiting methods.

Among the objectives is to involve, as is already happening, the schools of Martina Franca and the Itria Valley area, especially Primary and Secondary schools, through direct contact with teachers and principals.

The success of Libromat is linked to members, word of mouth and the spread of this idea. The growth of this idea will lead to further steps such as the registration of texts via barcode, useful for creating a digital library available online for free, updated in real time and useful for users to understand at any time which texts are available inside Libromat. Among the ideas is also that of creating a dedicated website with the possibility for users to create their own reserved area, as well as for schools or teachers.

The initiative, according to what the board imagined, could expand by involving local and national authors who can present their texts at the Casa delle Arti, donating a copy to Libromat which could become the driving force of literary appointments or an annual cultural container that proposes not only literary presentations but also stories, cultural, sports, political, social and environmental insights open to the City, the territory but also to tourists who crowd Puglia especially in the spring and summer period, also aiming at a deseasonalization of the flow and a stable presence during the event that favors the economy of the territory.

Fundamental, however, will be the spread of the idea through the active participation of schools and enthusiasts, but also participation in regional, national or European calls useful to make the project more stable, lasting and with a broader scope.