Più libri più liberi 2026 at Nuvola in EUR, December 4 to 8, 2026

Più libri più liberi 2026, the 25th edition of the National Small and Medium Publishers Fair, takes place from Friday, December 4 to Tuesday, December 8, 2026 at the Nuvola, the Roma Convention Center at Viale Asia 25, in EUR, open from 10:00 to 20:00. You get there on Metro line B toward Laurentina, getting off at the EUR Fermi stop: from there it's about five minutes on foot along Viale Shakespeare to the intersection with Viale Europa. Prices for the 2026 edition are published on the fair's official website. Tickets are bought online on the presale circuit authorized by the organizers, reachable from the tickets page on plpl.it, or at the Nuvola box offices during the fair, at a higher price. The ticket gives access to the stands and to the event rooms, which are free to enter until full. The organizer is the Associazione Italiana Editori.

It's Rome's fair for the books you don't find in shop windows: five days in which independent publishers bring their whole catalog, new releases included, and in which you can talk directly with the people who chose, translated or laid out a book. The 2026 edition changes quite a lot from previous ones: fewer stands, a team of curators instead of a single artistic director, spaces for events open in the middle of the exhibitors. If you've been before, you'll find a fair you recognize but redesigned. If you've never been, you've picked the right year to start.

What Più libri più liberi is

Più libri più liberi is the National Small and Medium Publishers Fair, promoted and organized by the Associazione Italiana Editori, and it presents itself as the first Italian fair dedicated exclusively to independent publishing. It was born in December 2002 from an idea of the AIE Small Publishers Group, with a stated goal: to give as many small publishing houses as possible a space to bring to the fore a production that in bookstores often stays in the shadow of the big groups. Since then it has taken place in Rome every December, and since 2017 its home has been the Nuvola designed by Massimiliano Fuksas.

The name is a program. The English version of the official website translates it with a simple formula, more books for more freedom, and also presents the event as the Rome Book Fair. Behind it is a precise idea of the market: the variety of catalogs as a measure of readers' freedom. You can debate if the equation always holds. What's certain is that, walking among the stands, you realize how vast the landscape is of imprints that take up half a shelf in bookstores, or none.

A fair for readers, with a professional soul

The fair is general-interest: the audience is readers, families included, and the most visible part is the cultural program of book presentations, debates, readings and live music. Alongside this, grown over the years, there's a part reserved for professionals: since 2018 the Business Centre, a 500-square-meter area for meetings between companies in the supply chain and publishers, and the Rights Centre for buying and selling rights with foreign publishers. The ordinary visitor barely sees it, but that's where it gets decided if an Italian book will be translated elsewhere.

The numbers from the last edition

The 2025 edition, the 24th, closed with 105,631 visitors in five days, 604 exhibitors spread between the multipurpose floor and the forum floor of the Nuvola, 55,000 square meters of exhibition areas, 17 event rooms and shared spaces, more than 750 public events and about 1,800 speakers. They're big-fair numbers, achieved with publishers who, taken one by one, are small. For 2026 the organizers deliberately chose to reduce the number of stands: the attendance figures for the 25th edition will need to be read with this in mind.

Più libri più liberi 2026: what changes in the 25th edition

For its 25th edition Più libri più liberi has revised its curation, governance and floor plan, with about 300 exhibitors admitted plus the publishers in the regional group stands. The fair itself has spoken of a new cycle, and the question chosen to go with it is "If you look more closely, what do you see?". The detailed calendar of events can be checked on the official website. The structure, however, is already clear, and it's worth knowing before you go in.

A team of curators instead of an artistic director

There won't be a single artistic director. The program is entrusted to a team coordinated by the writer Paolo Di Paolo, with the journalist Giorgio Zanchini, who has been asked to pay particular attention to current social, political and economic issues. Two new voices have joined: Licia Troisi, one of the most widely read authors abroad too, who covers science themes and young adult, and Nadeesha Uyangoda, a writer who has just won the Premio Campiello Opera Prima and who looks at new languages and social transformations. Di Paolo has said he has attended the fair for more than 15 editions: he knows the audience, and we'll see.

The Steering Committee and the weight of publishers

The second novelty is a Steering Committee that sets alongside AIE president Innocenzo Cipolletta, fair president Annamaria Malato, AIE Small Publishers president Lorenzo Armando and coordinator Paolo Di Paolo a group of publishers: Isabella Ferretti, Carlo Gallucci, Renata Gorgani, Agnese Manni, Santiago Maradei. The stated intent is to put publishers back at the center of strategic choices. It's a sensible move: a fair of independent publishers that doesn't listen to publishers loses its reason for being.

A new floor plan and events among the stands

The floor plan has been redesigned. On the ground floor the cultural program enters the visitors' route with new spaces for events set up in the middle of the stands: book presentations and conversations will take place right where books are discovered and bought, instead of staying shut away in the rooms. To do this, the total number of stands has been reduced. If you remember the crowded aisles of recent editions, you should find a fair that's easier to get around. If you were looking for a tiny publisher that has been there for years, you might not find it anymore.

Who has been admitted

The sales campaign closed in July with more than 300 applications, in line with the previous year. At the end of the evaluation about 300 exhibitors were admitted, based on available space, and 34 applications were not accepted. The evaluation favored applicants whose main activity is publishing, with priority for members of the trade associations AIE and ADEI who had already taken part with their own stand. The full list is published on the Editori in fiera page of the official website. The map and stand numbers will come later.

The declaration of adherence to antifascist values

For 2026 exhibitors were asked to sign a declaration of adherence to constitutional principles and the values of antifascism. Seven applications arrived without the signature, and the fair decided to examine them anyway, since these are principles already referred to in the rules. The choice drew reactions, and the organizers announced that the rifts that emerged will be the subject of central events and debates in the program. It's the direct sequel to what happened in 2025, described further on.

The Più libri più liberi program: events, rooms, prizes

At Più libri più liberi the events are included in the ticket, you don't book them, and you enter the room until it's full. At the end of each event the audience leaves the room, which fills up for the next one: you don't hold on to a seat for the whole afternoon. The only events that require booking are those reserved for schools. It's a simple rule that shapes the whole visit, because it forces you to choose and to line up in time for the most anticipated events.

The Auditorium and the rooms named after stars

The venue for the biggest events is the Nuvola's Auditorium, which according to the fair holds 1,800 people. Around it are the smaller rooms, which in 2025 bore the names of stars and planets: Sirio, Vega, Antares, Polaris, Luna, Marte, Giove, Venere, Nettuno, Cometa, Elettra, Aurora. To these were added the Sala Aldus for the professional program, the Spazio Ragazzi with its workshop area, and institutional stands, such as the Lazio Region's, which in turn hosted events. For 2026 the open spaces set up among the stands on the ground floor are added.

What you usually hear

The 2025 program gives an idea of the range: Italian and foreign fiction, historical and political nonfiction, graphic novels, popular science, sport, children's literature, poetry, live music. It went from Alessandro Barbero's lectio magistralis on Saint Francis in the Auditorium to debates on public schools, from presentations by foreign authors in dialogue with Italian writers to series such as Scrittori che parlano di scrittori, in which one author talks about another. With the new curatorial team the approach will change, but variety is in the fair's DNA.

The prizes awarded at the fair

The Nuvola is also the venue for several award ceremonies. In 2025 it hosted the final of the Premio Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi in the Auditorium, the Premio Magis BANCOMAT Letteratura e Esordienti, the tenth edition of the Premio The Bridge, which links Italian and American authors, the Premio Tokyo-Roma and the Premio Letterario Sportivo Invictus. If you like to witness the moment a book receives an award, you'll find occasions here that elsewhere require an invitation.

The fair outside the fair

In recent years the main events have been broadcast by Più Libri TV, free of charge, live or recorded, and the fair's website and app have let you check the map, mark your favorite publishers and add events to a personal calendar. In 2025 the Lazio Region added more than 40 events spread across libraries, museums and ecomuseums alongside the fair. It's a good reason to keep an eye on the official channels even if you can't go to the Nuvola every day.

Fuksas's Nuvola, home of Più libri più liberi

The Nuvola is the EUR convention center designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, and it has hosted Più libri più liberi since 2017. The fair describes it as a structure floating inside a steel and glass case 40 meters high, 70 wide and 175 long, built with an eco-friendly approach, with a total capacity of almost 8,000 seats, 1,800 of them in the Auditorium alone. The name comes from the irregular white volume suspended inside the case, which from inside really does look like a cloud hanging still above the visitors' heads.

Why the fair moved here

With the move to the Nuvola, the organizers explained, the exhibition space dedicated to publishers went from 2,000 to 3,500 square meters, and an entire 5,000-square-meter floor was set aside for shared spaces and group stands. The new venue was meant to guarantee more publishers and a more comfortable environment for visitors. In 2025 the total exhibition areas had reached 55,000 square meters: growth was rapid, and the reduction in stands decided for 2026 can be explained this way too.

How the fair is laid out in the building

In 2025 the exhibitors were spread over two levels, the multipurpose floor and the forum floor. The forum floor also houses the Business Centre reserved for professionals. For 2026 the fair has announced a redesigned floor plan, with event spaces set among the stands on the ground floor. The fair map is published on the official website, on the Info page: downloading it before you arrive saves you from wandering, because the building is big and on your first visit the levels aren't immediately readable.

The Nuvola and the other EUR buildings

At the 2025 opening, the CEO of EUR SpA, Claudio Carserà, mentioned the Nuvola together with the Palazzo dei Congressi and the Palazzo dello Sport as the places that make EUR a hub for conferences, shows and cultural events. EUR SpA is among the bodies the fair works with, together with the Istituzione Biblioteche di Roma and ATAC. For the history and architecture of the building there's our page on Fuksas's Nuvola.

A curious fact about Più libri più liberi 2026 at Nuvola in EUR, December 4 to 8, 2026

In 2025 Più libri più liberi offered visitors PLAI, an artificial intelligence that recommended exhibitors and events in the style of Jane Austen. The service, also called Parla con Jane, helped people find their way among the program's 700-plus events and build a tailored visit. The choice of Jane Austen wasn't random: the theme of the edition was Ragioni e sentimenti, Sense and Sensibility, and the program included a whole series of events on adventures inside and outside her novels, with women writers and translators asked to reread her.

The curious fact says a lot about the fair's character. Più libri più liberi was born to give space to small, often artisanal publishers, and has always seen reading as a slow gesture. And yet it's among the events that have experimented most with digital tools to guide the public, from the app with its personal calendar to the fair's free television. In that same 2025, during the fair, AIE presented a study according to which three out of four Italian publishers already use artificial intelligence tools in their workflows.

Then there's a detail you only notice by reading the program: the event rooms bear the names of stars and planets, from Sirio to Antares, from Vega to Polaris. Inside a building called Nuvola, cloud, the idea holds up. If you need to meet someone at the fair, use them as landmarks, more reliable than a stand number.

The question chosen for the 25th edition, "If you look more closely, what do you see?", suggests, however, an attention to the gaze more than to tools: we'll see in December how the curatorial team develops it.

How to get to the Nuvola for Più libri più liberi

The simplest way to reach Più libri più liberi is Metro line B toward Laurentina, getting off at the EUR Fermi stop and walking five minutes to the Nuvola. The address given by the organizers is Viale Asia 25. ATAC is among the event's partners, and in 2025 holders of a Metrebus pass were entitled to a discounted admission ticket at the box office: check if the discount will be confirmed for 2026.

By metro from Termini or Tiburtina

From Termini and Tiburtina take line B toward Laurentina and get off at EUR Fermi. Coming out of the station, follow Viale Shakespeare to the intersection with Viale Europa: the Nuvola is about five minutes on foot. At rush hour on weekdays, and above all on mornings when school groups arrive, trains toward EUR can be crowded: with small children or strollers it's best to leave mid-morning.

From Fiumicino airport

The fair's official directions offer two options. The first: FL1 regional train toward Fara Sabina and Orte to Roma Ostiense, then bus 30 toward Laurentina to the Colombo/Europa stop, or Metro B from Piramide station, connected to Ostiense, to EUR Fermi and the walk along Viale Shakespeare. The second: FL1 train to Villa Bonelli, then bus 780 toward Nervi Palazzo Sport to the Europa/Tolstoi stop, and from there on foot along Viale Europa toward Via Cristoforo Colombo to the intersection with Viale Asia.

From Ciampino airport

From Ciampino take bus 720 toward Laurentina to the metro terminus. From Laurentina take line B toward Rebibbia and get off at EUR Fermi, then continue on foot along Viale Shakespeare to the intersection with Viale Europa. It's a straightforward route, suitable even if you're flying into Rome on a morning flight just for the fair.

By car and parking

From the Grande Raccordo Anulare take exit 26, Roma EUR, toward the center, and continue for about 3 kilometers to the intersection with Viale Asia, which is on the right. On the busiest days, Saturday, Sunday and December 8, finding a spot around the Nuvola for a fair with more than 100,000 visitors takes patience. The advice is clear: on those days, go to EUR by metro.

Something nobody tells you about Più libri più liberi 2026 at Nuvola in EUR, December 4 to 8, 2026

At Più libri più liberi a ticket bought at the box office costs more than one bought online, and the box office at the fair closes half an hour before the stands. In the 2025 edition the difference was two euros on the full price, 10 euros at the box office against 8 plus presale fees online, and the physical box office closed at 19:30 with the fair open until 20:00. The fair says it clearly on its tickets page: online you skip the line and save money. If you arrive on Saturday afternoon without a ticket, you pay more and wait longer: two mistakes avoidable with a minute on your phone.

The second thing you only learn by going concerns the events. Events can't be booked and, once an event is over, the room empties. For a big name in the Auditorium, arriving at the stated time isn't enough: the line starts earlier, and those inside for the previous event have to leave anyway. If you want to be sure of getting in, show up well in advance and give up something else. It's a fair system, because it doesn't reward those who hog seats, but you have to factor it in.

Third point, less obvious: on weekday mornings the fair belongs to the schools. In 2025 about 10,000 students arrived on the first day, and over 20,000 children and middle and high school students in the first two days. For an adult who wants to wander calmly among the stands, the morning of Friday the 4th or Monday, December 7 may be the noisiest of the week. The afternoon is a different story.

Finally, the real value of the fair isn't in the famous events, which you can often follow in streaming too, but in the conversation with publishers at their stands. Those who run a small imprint have chosen every title in the catalog and are usually happy to talk about it. Asking "what of yours would you recommend?" opens more doors than any review.

Hours and tickets for Più libri più liberi 2026

Più libri più liberi 2026 is open from Friday, December 4 to Tuesday, December 8, every day from 10:00 to 20:00, and tickets are bought online or at the Nuvola box offices. The ticket gives access to the fair and to the event rooms, and individual events can't be booked. The prices for the 2026 edition are published on the tickets page of the official website, from which you reach the presale circuit authorized by the organizers.

Last edition's prices as a reference

To get an idea of the order of magnitude, in 2025 the full-price ticket online cost 8 euros plus presale fee, the reduced ticket for kids aged 6 to 18 cost 5 euros, the reduced ticket for over-65s 6 euros, the family ticket for one adult and two kids aged 6 to 18 13 euros, and the pass for all five days 30 euros, always plus presale fee. At the box office the full price was 10 euros, the reduced 7, over-65s 8, family 17. Children up to 5 and people with disabilities with their companion got in free. The 2026 figures may be different: the official page is what counts.

Discounts to know about

In 2025 the box office at the fair also offered a reduced ticket for university students with their student card on Thursday and Friday, a discounted rate for holders of a Metrebus pass, of a Bibliocard from the city libraries and for members of some associations of disabled and deaf people, and a reduced weekday afternoon ticket on the first day after 16:00. In 2026 the first day falls on a Friday: if these options will be confirmed will be stated on the tickets page.

Professional and press accreditation

Publishers, booksellers, librarians, literary agents, teachers, authors, illustrators and literary translators can apply for professional accreditation, which in 2025 cost 20 euros plus presale fee and was valid for all days. Press accreditation is free for members of the Order of Journalists and for contributors to media outlets. The online procedure closes on December 1. After that, you go through the dedicated desks at the fair with the required documents. Accreditation isn't automatic: the fair evaluates each request.

My advice for visiting Più libri più liberi 2026 at Nuvola in EUR, December 4 to 8, 2026

For Più libri più liberi the advice is to go on a weekday afternoon, Monday, December 7 or Friday the 4th, with your ticket already bought online and a short list of publishers to look for. Saturday and Sunday are the days of the most anticipated events and the crowds, and December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is the last day and a holiday for everyone. On weekday afternoons, after the morning school visits, the stands can breathe and publishers have time to talk.

Before leaving, open the page of admitted publishers and mark five or six names: two you already know, three you've never heard of. Then choose at most three events in the calendar, one of them in a small room, where the relationship with the speaker is different. Leave everything else to chance, which works well at this fair: the book you take home will almost always be one you hadn't planned.

Bring a roomy bag and set a budget before going in. It sounds like market advice, and that's exactly what it is: the fair falls in the Christmas season, and the organizers themselves point out that for many it's the chance to start their gift shopping. With publishers this small, every purchase at the stand really weighs on their accounts. Buying there, instead of photographing the cover to order it elsewhere, is the most concrete way to stand with independent publishing.

One last thing: keep an hour free to sit down. The fair is more tiring than it seems, between floors, aisles and lines. A coffee halfway through, with the catalog of a publisher you've just met on the table, is worth more than an hour of stands rushed past.

Più libri più liberi with children and schools

At Più libri più liberi admission is free for school groups accompanied by teachers, with required booking through an online form by November 6, 2026. The fair devotes a substantial part of its program to young people, with the Spazio Ragazzi run together with the Istituzione Biblioteche di Roma, where workshops, readings and events reserved for classes are held. In 2025 the first two days brought more than 20,000 children and teenagers to the Nuvola.

How to register a class

Each form lets you enter at most four classes, and to register more you fill out additional forms. Filling it out takes about 15 minutes and must be completed in one go, because the data isn't saved: before starting, have at hand the school's details, the number of students and accompanying teachers for each class, and the name and cell phone number of the contact person. All the instructions are on the Schools page of the official website.

Events and workshops for classes

Registering for the visit doesn't automatically guarantee a place at events or workshops. The Schools Office contacts registered schools in the order the forms arrived and offers the available events, until they're full. It's one more reason to register early: if you send the form close to the deadline, you risk getting admission but not the events. The Schools Office answers at 06 95222150 and at scuola@plpl.it.

Più libri Junior, the writing game

Since 2009 the fair has organized Più libri Junior, a writing game for the upper grades of primary school and for middle school, with an award ceremony during the fair. The project involves the kids before December, in class, and brings them to the Nuvola as authors. The official partner for 2026 is SIAE. The theme was announced in the first days of October on the website, on social media and by email to the schools registered for the visit.

With your kids, outside school hours

For families, in recent years the fair has offered a family ticket, one adult and two kids aged 6 to 18, and free admission for children up to 5. In 2025 the program for the youngest included events in the Auditorium with much-loved authors, such as Jeff Kinney, the author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Pera Toons, and drawing workshops in the Spazio Ragazzi. A suggestion: with children under 10, choose a single event and build the visit around it, leaving time for the children's publishers' stands, which are among the most beautiful to browse.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

Più libri più liberi takes place on the first weekend of December, and for the independent publishers who take part those five days are worth a Christmas showcase in the capital. The fair doesn't hide it: the official presentation talks about an exceptional showcase, in Rome and in the Christmas period, and the English version of the website adds plainly that for many visitors it's the chance to start their Christmas shopping, with positive effects on the exhibitors' accounts.

Everyone knows it, and that's why nobody says it. And yet it's the key to understanding the fair. For a small publisher, a year's work is often played out in a few occasions when they meet readers directly, without going through distribution and the shelf of a chain store. Più libri più liberi is one of these, perhaps the most important for many imprints: five days in which the book changes hands without intermediaries. The visitor who buys at the stand does something that doesn't always work in a bookstore, namely rewarding directly the people who worked on that book.

There's a second fact, linked to the first, that is rarely talked about. The fair has had a professional heart since its birth in 2002, and since 2018 it has structured it with the Business Centre and the Rights Centre. In 2025 the Rights Centre hosted more than 900 meetings between about a hundred Italian exhibitors and 62 foreign publishers. While the public wanders among the stands, in a reserved area people discuss if a novel published by a provincial publisher will be translated into Spanish or Portuguese. This too, in its way, is a Christmas present.

Finally, the overlap with the Immaculate Conception long weekend brings an audience to the Nuvola that isn't only Roman. In 2026 the fair runs from Friday the 4th to Tuesday the 8th: if you're coming from out of town you can combine the visit with a few days in the city, when Rome starts dressing up for the holidays.

Accessibility and services at Più libri più liberi

At Più libri più liberi admission is free for people with disabilities and their companions. For specific information, the organizing office answers at 06 95222150 and at info@plpl.it: for particular needs, such as wheelchair access to an event in the Auditorium, it's best to write a few days ahead.

Getting around inside the Nuvola

The fair's spaces are spread over several levels and events take place in different rooms, sometimes far apart. If you have mobility difficulties, the advice is to plan your moves on the map before you arrive and group events by floor. In 2025 the fair added the updated website, the app and the PLAI assistant to the traditional information points: useful tools for cutting down on pointless walking.

Kids with disabilities and school visits

School visits follow the general rules for classes: free admission and required booking. In the registration form you give the number of students and companions per class. Any specific needs should be flagged to the Schools Office, which organizes participation in the events.

The right photo to take at Più libri più liberi 2026 at Nuvola in EUR, December 4 to 8, 2026

The right photo at Più libri più liberi is of the Nuvola seen from below, the big white volume suspended inside the 40-meter-high glass and steel case, with the fair crowd beneath. It's the image the fair itself uses to present its venue: the irregular, luminous structure above, the beams of the case in the background, the people small in the foreground sitting on the white cubes among the stands. It works because it puts in scale two things that rarely coexist in the same photo, a spectacular piece of architecture and the small-scale activity of a book fair.

To do it well you need a wide-angle lens or your phone's panorama mode, and a bit of patience: the best moment is when the foot traffic thins out, in the middle of a weekday afternoon. Stand at some distance from the suspended volume, so as to include its whole curve, and leave a strip of stands and visitors at the bottom. Without people the photo is architecture. With people it becomes a portrait of the fair.

The second photo to take home is more intimate: a table at a stand, with a small publisher's books fanned out and someone's hands leafing through one. Ask the publisher's permission. They'll almost always give it gladly, and maybe tell you about the book you're framing. It's the photo that says why people come here.

In December it gets dark early. Leaving the fair toward evening, look at the glass case from the sidewalk on Viale Asia or Viale Europa: if the interior is still lit, the white volume can be read through the glass. It's an image many Romans know only in passing, from a car, and on foot it deserves a stop.

Some important events that happened here in history

The first event concerning the fair at the Nuvola is the 2017 move, when Più libri più liberi left its previous venue for the new EUR convention center designed by Massimiliano Fuksas. The change of home suddenly expanded the space for publishers, which went from 2,000 to 3,500 square meters of exhibition space, plus an entire 5,000-square-meter floor for shared spaces and group stands. In 2018 the 17th edition, from December 5 to 9, confirmed the choice and inaugurated the Business Centre and the Rights Centre, which gave the fair its professional dimension.

The 2025 edition, the 24th, closed with 105,631 visitors and was also the one that left the most traces in public debate. As the fair opened, more than 80 authors, publishers and people from the cultural world signed an appeal about the presence among the exhibitors of the publishing house Passaggio al Bosco. At the opening, president Annamaria Malato stated that "the nature of the Fair is deeply antifascist", and the writer Christian Raimo was invited to speak at the press conference on behalf of the signatories. On the third day a peaceful protest covered the books of some stands with a symbolic veil, and director Fabio Del Giudice acknowledged that it took place without incident, proposing to open a serious debate on the subject.

In the same edition, at the Nuvola, Pen Roma was launched, a permanent observatory on freedom of expression, with Pen International president Burhan Sönmez, Italian president Sandro Veronesi, Roberto Saviano and Helena Janeczek. The fair's closing event was a choral tribute to Michela Murgia on the Auditorium stage, with firsthand accounts from, among others, Chiara Tagliaferri, Teresa Ciabatti and Loredana Lipperini. On the 50th anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini's death, the fair devoted several events to him, including a lecture by Mario Lupano on the architecture of Pasolini's Rome.

The 25th edition carries the consequences of that story, starting with the antifascist declaration required of exhibitors. It's rare for a book fair to become the place where a country argues about itself: at the Nuvola it happened.

Who has passed through Più libri più liberi 2026 at Nuvola in EUR, December 4 to 8, 2026

Writers, historians, journalists and musicians have passed through the Nuvola in the editions of Più libri più liberi: in 2025 the most followed events included those with Jovanotti and Chiara Valerio, Alessandro Barbero, Marco Travaglio, Dacia Maraini and Stefano Mancuso. Barbero gave a lectio magistralis on Saint Francis in the Auditorium, Travaglio spoke there about stories of wars and peace, and Dacia Maraini presented three travel volumes across Asia, the Americas and Africa with Filippo La Porta and Rosella Postorino. The same year Marino Bartoletti, Anna Foa, Diego Bianchi, Carola Susani, Edoardo Camurri, Marco Malvaldi, Luciana Castellina and Valerio Magrelli also took to the fair's stages.

There were many foreign authors. The American Tessa Hulls, fresh from the Pulitzer Prize, presented her graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts, Ombre di famiglia in Italian, with Nadia Terranova, the Icelander Jón Kalman Stefánsson his novel Varie cose sulle sequoie e sul tempo with Lisa Ginzburg, and Lily King her latest book with the reading groups of the Biblioteche di Roma. The Spaniard Eva Baltasar, the Frenchwoman Véronique Ovaldé, the Bosnian Tijan Sila, winner of the 2024 Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, the Argentine Salomé Esper, the Canadian Sébastien Dulude, the Turk Burhan Sönmez, the Spaniards Edurne Portela and José Ovejero and the Swiss Lukas Bärfuss have also come through here.

For the youngest, the Nuvola welcomed Jeff Kinney, who filled the Auditorium with kids, and Pera Toons. Among the most unusual events of 2025, the actor Stefano Fresi gave voice to pages by Georges Simenon together with the writer's son, John Simenon, and Loredana Lipperini, the actress Sonia Bergamasco was the subject of a portrait in several voices, and Ambrogio Sparagna brought the soloists of the Orchestra popolare italiana. Naples prosecutor Nicola Gratteri and Giuliano Amato also took part, in a debate on democracy with Michele Ciliberto and Gianni Cuperlo.

Behind those programs was Chiara Valerio, curator for three editions, who in 2025 passed the baton to Giorgio Zanchini.

The publishers at Più libri più liberi 2026

About 300 publishers have been admitted to Più libri più liberi 2026, plus those hosted in the regional group stands. The list published on the official website ranges from publishing houses with a long history to imprints born just a few years ago, from fiction imprints to nonfiction, comics, poetry, children's books and university publishing. Reading it before going is the best way to prepare your visit.

Well-known names and imprints to discover

The list includes names every reader knows, such as Editori Laterza, Il Mulino, Carocci, Donzelli, Sellerio, Iperborea, minimum fax, edizioni e/o, Fazi, nottetempo, Quodlibet, Raffaello Cortina, Voland, NN Editore, L'orma. Alongside these, dozens of small or very small imprints, often with very recognizable catalogs, which are hard to find in bookstores. The rule is simple: for every publisher you know, stop at one you don't.

Comics and illustration

Part of the list concerns comics and illustration: among others Bao Publishing, Coconino Press, BeccoGiallo, Tunué, Comicon Edizioni, Edizioni NPE. The graphic novel is by now a permanent section of the fair's program, which in 2025 dedicated a specific thematic strand to it.

Children's books

If you're looking for books for children and teenagers, the publishers admitted include Babalibri, Topipittori, Orecchio Acerbo, Minibombo, Camelozampa, Sinnos, Il Castoro, Lapis, Terre di Mezzo, Gallucci, Artebambini, Carthusia, uovonero. These are the stands where children sit on the floor to browse, and where it's worth leaving time.

Rome in the catalogs

The exhibitors also include imprints Roman readers know well, such as Edilazio, Palombi Editori, Gangemi Editore International, Castelvecchi with Arcana, Elliot and Ultra, Giulio Perrone editore, Armando Editore, Sandro Teti editore. In 2025 the fair had devoted a series of events to the city, from Paolo Conti's book on the Rome case to the bizarre stories of the ancient Romans told by Mario Lentano: if you follow the city, you'll find plenty to read.

The professional side: Business Centre and Rights Centre

The Business Centre of Più libri più liberi is a 500-square-meter area on the forum floor of the Nuvola, reserved for trade professionals and open from December 4 to 6. It houses the B2B Club, with tables for meetings between companies and publishers, two 40-seat rooms, Sala Aldus and Sala Aurora, where the professional program takes place, and a 300-square-meter lounge with restricted access for exhibitors, press and speakers. It's aimed at communication and translation agencies, distributors, sales reps, printers, specialized law firms, startups and logistics companies.

The Rights Centre is held at the Nuvola on Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5, 2026, in an area reserved for foreign publishers, literary agents and Italian exhibitors. The 2026 Fellowship Programme is dedicated to publishers from Portuguese-speaking countries, who on December 2 and 3 visit publishing houses and bookstores in Rome before sitting down at the fair's tables. In 2025 the program was aimed at Spanish-speaking countries, in view of Italy's presence as guest of honor at the Guadalajara Book Fair in 2026. The ordinary visitor doesn't enter these areas, but it's useful to know they exist: some of the foreign books we'll read in the coming years pass through here, and vice versa.

How to plan your day at Più libri più liberi

For a visit to Più libri più liberi without rushing you need at least three or four hours: an hour and a half for the stands, one or two events, a break. If you want to follow more events or explore all the levels at your leisure, consider a multi-day pass, which in 2025 existed in a version for all five days. The fair opens at 10:00 and closes at 20:00, and the box office at the fair, at least in the last edition, closed half an hour earlier.

Before you leave

Buy your ticket online, download the map and the app if the fair makes it available again this year, and check the calendar of events and the list of publishers. Write down on a sheet of paper, or on your phone, the stands you want to see and the times of the events you don't want to miss, with the room. In a crowded building the connection isn't guaranteed: having the information already saved saves you from staring at a screen that won't load.

Morning or afternoon

On weekdays the morning belongs to school groups and the afternoon to the adult public, while on holidays attendance is high all day. If your goal is to talk with publishers, choose early morning on a holiday, right after opening, or late afternoon on a weekday. If your goal is an event in the Auditorium, factor in the line and arrive well in advance.

How much to spend and how to carry your books

Books are bought directly at the stands. Set a limit before going in, because the temptation is constant, and bring a sturdy bag or a backpack: 10 books are heavy, and the metro ride home with paper bags giving way isn't pleasant. In 2025 many students used the Lazio Region's Buono Libro, a 10-euro voucher for young readers: if the initiative is renewed, it's best to arrive at the fair with the voucher already in hand.

In a group

With a group of adults the formula that works is simple: meet at the entrance, two hours of freedom, regroup at a fixed, recognizable point, then an event chosen together. Moving as a block among the stands is impossible and not very useful, because everyone is looking for different books. At the end of the day the best part is comparing purchases.

Where to eat around the Nuvola

Around the Nuvola, in the EUR district, there are cafés, hot tables, pizzerias and restaurants, concentrated mainly along Viale Europa and in the streets near the EUR Fermi metro stop. For a day at the fair I recommend a solid breakfast before going in and a simple, quick lunch, perhaps outside the building to get some air between rounds. Hold on to your ticket, though: to get back in, ask at the entrance how temporary exit works before you leave.

For dinner after the 20:00 closing, EUR has places at every level, but if you have to go back to the center you can also choose to have dinner there, along line B, and use the metro as your link. On the days of the Immaculate Conception long weekend, restaurants near event venues fill up: with a group, book.

A practical tip: bring a water bottle. At a crowded fair, with hours spent on your feet among the stands, you drink more than you think.

EUR around the Nuvola: what to see before or after the fair

The Nuvola is in the EUR district, born as the site of the Esposizione Universale di Roma, and a short distance away are some of its best-known buildings. If you arrive early or leave the fair while the light is still good, you can turn the day into a walk through the district, which is an open-air museum of 20th-century architecture. For an overview there's our guide EUR, what to see in Rome's rationalist district, and our page on EUR, Esposizione Universale Roma.

The landmark buildings

The most recognizable is the Square Colosseum, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, which many know for the repeated arches on its four facades. Not far from the Nuvola is the Palazzo dei Congressi, another event venue in the district, and farther south the Basilica of Santi Pietro e Paolo, with its great dome.

Museums and green space

If you have time, the Museum of Civilizations brings together different collections in EUR, from prehistory to folk arts and traditions. For an outdoor break there's the EUR Lake, and if you're at the fair with children who have run out of patience among the stands, Luneur Park is the most effective reward I know.

Più libri più liberi and December in Rome

Più libri più liberi 2026 closes on Tuesday, December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day that in Rome marks the start of the Christmas season. The 2026 calendar is favorable: the fair fills a long weekend, from Friday to Tuesday, with Monday the 7th as the only full weekday besides Friday. If you're coming from outside Rome, it's a chance to combine the fair with a few days in the city, when the holiday lights come on and the days get shorter.

The December weather in Rome is generally mild compared with the rest of Italy, but cool in the evening and sometimes rainy: inside the Nuvola you walk around in a sweater, outside you need a coat. If you're staying in the center you can reach EUR by metro in reasonable time and get back in the evening without problems. If you'd rather sleep near the fair, you'll find EUR a quiet area, far from the tourist traffic of the historic center.

One consideration: over the Immaculate Conception long weekend Rome is full, and the most visited places in the center have long lines. A day in EUR, between the fair and the district's buildings, is a smart way to experience the city in those days, far from the crowds at the monuments and close to an audience of readers.

Frequently asked questions about Più libri più liberi 2026

When is Più libri più liberi 2026?

Più libri più liberi 2026 takes place from Friday, December 4 to Tuesday, December 8, 2026 at the Nuvola in EUR, in Rome. It's the 25th edition of the National Small and Medium Publishers Fair, organized by the Associazione Italiana Editori. The fair is open every day from 10:00 to 20:00, including December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which is also the last day.

Where is the Nuvola and how do you get there by public transportation?

The Nuvola, home of Più libri più liberi, is at Viale Asia 25, in the EUR district. You get there on Metro line B toward Laurentina, getting off at EUR Fermi, and continuing on foot for about five minutes along Viale Shakespeare to the intersection with Viale Europa. By bus, line 30 stops at Colombo/Europa and the 780 at Europa/Tolstoi.

How much is a ticket for Più libri più liberi?

Prices for Più libri più liberi 2026 are published on the tickets page of the official website plpl.it. For reference, in 2025 the full-price ticket cost 8 euros plus presale fee online and 10 euros at the box office at the fair, with reductions for kids aged 6 to 18, over-65s and families. Buying online costs less and lets you skip the line.

Do you book the events at Più libri più liberi?

Events at Più libri più liberi aren't booked: they're included in the admission ticket and seating is first come, first served until full. At the end of each event the room must be cleared for the next event. Only events reserved for schools require booking. For the most anticipated events in the Auditorium, it's best to line up well in advance.

Do schools get in free at Più libri più liberi?

Yes, at Più libri più liberi admission is free for school groups accompanied by teachers, with required booking. For 2026 the online form must be filled out by November 6, and each form covers at most four classes. Participation in events and workshops is then offered by the Schools Office in the order registrations arrived.

How many publishers are at Più libri più liberi 2026?

About 300 exhibitors have been admitted to Più libri più liberi 2026, plus the publishers in the regional group stands. The number is lower than in 2025, when there were 604 exhibitors, because the fair reduced the stands to redesign the floor plan and insert event spaces among the exhibitors. The full list is on the official website.

Who curates the program of Più libri più liberi 2026?

The program of Più libri più liberi 2026 is entrusted to a team of curators coordinated by the writer Paolo Di Paolo, with the journalist Giorgio Zanchini, the writer Licia Troisi and the writer Nadeesha Uyangoda. There's no single artistic director. Alongside the team works a new Steering Committee on which some publishers also sit.

Is admission free for people with disabilities?

Yes, at Più libri più liberi admission is free for people with disabilities and their companions, and in recent editions it was also free for children up to 5. For information or particular needs, the organizing office answers at 06 95222150 and at info@plpl.it.

Final advice on Più libri più liberi

It's wise to be wary of events that promise everything. Più libri più liberi promises just one thing, books from independent publishers, and keeps its promise. Go on a weekday afternoon, with your ticket in your pocket and a few names written down, talk to the people behind the counter and buy at least one book from a publisher you didn't know. It's the most sensible way to spend a December day in Rome, and the book you take home will be worth more than any souvenir.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

Planning a trip to Rome? The English guides for visiting the city are on ItalyPlanner.com.