La Rambla will be filled with books this weekend

The cultural initiative Vila del Llibre arrives for the first time in the Catalan capital and lands in one of its most emblematic spaces, La Rambla. This weekend, the lower section of Barcelona's quintessential artery will be filled with books to reclaim its past, as well as to aspire to recover a literary prominence lost among tourists.

"On La Rambla, noise drowns out the music," summarizes the president of Amics de la Rambla, Fermin Villar, "there is a lot of cultural reality that remains hidden." The literary festival will also serve to commemorate the bookstores that once populated the street, such as Verdaguer, inaugurated in 1835. This was followed by a dozen more, of which only Casa Beethoven and the small, century-old Pompeia bookstore remain.

The association chaired by Villar co-organizes the event with la Xarxa de Viles del Llibre, a network that has years of experience in promoting these small festivals in multiple Catalan municipalities, such as Bellprat, L'Escala, Sitges, Cabrils or Malgrat de Mar. They have also traveled to Manacor and next year they will go to Pontedeume (A Coruña). All of them are organized annually.

La Rambla will experience its first edition on Saturday and Sunday, with Pasaje Bacardí as its epicenter. This passage, the first covered one in Barcelona and with an outlet to Plaza Reial, will host the bulk of the program, with exhibitions, talks, debates, storytelling, poetry recitals and shows. The protagonists this year will be the Barcelona writer and co-founder of Cavall Fort Joaquim Carbó, the Argentine poet Eduardo Mazo, and the recently deceased Galician crime novel writer Domingo Villar. As it could not be otherwise, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and his Pepe Carvalho will also be present.

Pasaje Bacardí will share the spotlight with other spaces, such as the Palau Güell coaches, the gardens of the Museu Marítim, the Tablao Flamenco Cordobés or the Museu de Cera. In the latter, an activity of creating literary characters will be held in the repair workshop of its figures ---price of 10 euros---. Very close by, in the Bosc de les Fades, there will be a workshop on the most famous cocktails that Ernest Hemingway drank ---price of 6 euros---. There will also be routes to discover the literary past of La Rambla, all of them free, but with limited capacity and prior registration.

A final stop will be on La Rambla de Santa Mònica, with an editorial market that will feature the participation of 18 publishers and four second-hand bookstores. This will also pay homage to a distant past of La Rambla, when second-hand book stalls invaded it, before moving to Diputació street.