(By Mauretta Capuano) An 11-meter-long original gondola, kayaks, old-style bathtubs and wooden barrels are where old and new books are displayed at Venice's 'Acqua Alta' - high water - bookshop, among the world's only underwater bookstores.
Luigi Frizzo, who opened Acqua Alta a decade ago and owns three bookstores in the city, has to move his books from the floor, bathtubs and boats to higher shelves during regular flooding in the lagoon city, when the store remains open for business as usual.
Recently listed by the BBC as one of the world's 10 most beautiful bookstores, 'Acqua Alta' in Venice's Calle Longa Santa Maria Formosa is open every day from 9 am till 8 pm and is home to Frizzo's beloved four cats.
It has an important collection of international books on Venice, as well as a wide variety of rare pieces ranging from Corto Maltese comic books, to art catalogues, books on the art of gondola-making and classics like Antoine De Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince translated into Venetian dialect.
Rare editions are on sale alongside books with a one-euro price tag, which clients can pick from a wooden barrel, books on photography, music, poetry, old postcards and cards.
"We don't have best sellers," Frizzo told ANSA. "Books are displayed according to their subject or language.
"Almost all books are on Venice, but we also have literature on esotericism, Rudolf Steiner, of whom we have a picture near the entrance, and there is also a corner on erotica".
Frizzo added that he buys entire private collections "where you can find rare books out of print, also dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries".
Half of his clientele is foreign and the other half Italian, he added.
The store was originally a warehouse which took a long time to decorate and turn into the unique canal-side venue it is today.
"One year after opening, I discovered the gondola I had been hoping to find for a long time," said Frizzo.
"Meanwhile I bought wooden canoes, including two-seater boats which came from the Querini rowing club but could not be used for competitions anymore.
"Bathtubs are useful to save books from high waters," said the Vicenza-born owner, 73, who worked as a forest ranger, croupier and sailor before opening his bookstores.
"I did a little bit of everything, I worked as a waiter, kitchen hand, and lived in Germany for two years.
"I worked as a sailor for four years on boats including the 'Flavia', which sailed around the world.
"This is how I learned languages".
Frizzo also said he regularly tells women he attended the 'school' of Venetian adventurer Giacomo Casanova: "I explain to them that they must be careful because all men are Casanovas, but more so in Venice where it is a tradition".
When flood-warning sirens go off, books are moved to higher shelves but "in 2008-2009 water flooded the canoes and I had to throw away many books," said Frizzo.
However, old encyclopedias that were ruined by the flood were recycled to build a staircase.
The stairway leads to a small terrace overlooking the nearby canal offering a view of the Corte Sconta, the courtyard known as Arcana which became famous thanks to Hugo Pratt's sailor-adventurer cartoon hero Corto Maltese.
"When it rains, encyclopedias get ruined so I replace them," he said.
"I wanted to build this staircase for the view it offers of bridges and of Corto Maltese's Corte Sconta, but I would never have imagined that its attraction would have exceeded interest for the view," noted Frizzo, who put over the bay window overlooking the canal a mock security exit sign of a person swimming.
"People should have a good laugh too," he smiled.
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