The oldest bookstore in Sicily also serves specialty coffee, sweets, and natural wines

Literary cafes have existed for a long time, but this well-preserved gem in Catania is much more than a bookstore where you can have an espresso. First and foremost, Legatoria Prampolini was established in 1894, a detail that officially makes it the oldest bookstore in all of Sicily. Since 2019, it has been managed by the sisters Angelica and Maria Carmela Sciacca, and since January 2023, an entire room has been dedicated to a café, offering something truly special.

The century-old bookstore with specialty coffee

The sisters have been immersed in books for a long time: their still-active Libreria Vicolo Stretto in Catania is a real gem, a tiny but delightful space where one can get lost among special editions and mountains of volumes. However, Maria Carmela is also a great food enthusiast and has long felt the need to indulge in her second passion. "I wanted to offer a space to sit down and eat, but not just for consumption: I dreamed of creating a relaxed atmosphere where people could work, read, meet friends, and stay for an entire day." And so it happened.

Not a bistro, "real cooking changes the dynamics a bit, and we preferred to maintain a cold, slim, and fast offer," but a specialty coffee shop with EtnaRoaster beans, tempting sweets, vegetarian and vegan options, gluten-free products, and natural wines for lunch or aperitif. The menu remains the same all day, "you can have couscous at noon or at 9 in the morning," and as snacks, there are local salted olives and almonds, but everything here tells a piece of the territory, with a special focus on the environment, "we seek producers who share our philosophy and are reducing the use of plastic more and more."

Gluten-free sweets and Sicilian granitas

Salads, bruschettas, followed by gluten-free sweets and Terra² granitas, traditional cakes and pies from Dolceria Rundo, along with cappuccinos with various plant-based drinks, espresso, and filter coffee, "my favorites to express the aromas of individual origins." A café in the bookstore, but one that has a life of its own, "I feared that the gastronomic offer would overshadow book sales, but instead, the two sectors help each other." You enter, browse the shelves, then treat yourself to a good breakfast, "or not, you can also just consume and go or, vice versa, just shop."

From books to food

But how did a book lover end up in the world of food? "Sometimes I still wonder," she answers with a smile. "I have always been sociable, curious, I have traveled a lot and lived abroad for a while: what attracted me to food was the shared experience, which goes beyond mere consumption." She doesn't feel like a restaurateur, "maybe not even a bookseller anymore, I should define myself more as an entrepreneur." One thing is for sure, she is a lover of beauty: architect Marco Terranova, specializing in bio-construction, followed and signed the entire project, the skeletons and the structure remained the same as always, "I wanted to maintain a connection with the history of the place" but the shelving, display counters were all custom-designed to the taste of the sisters.

The café is doing well today, the most popular time is mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and book sales continue as well, "it's not easy today to keep an independent bookstore going." The dream in the drawer? "To open a raw food bistro, not just for fish," but above all, "to keep this reality standing and improve it more and more." Because Maria Carmela and Angelica have already fulfilled one dream: creating a place "to stop." And here, one returns again.

Legatoria Prampolini – Catania – via Vittorio Emanuele II, 333 - instagram.com/legatoria_prampolini/