Let’s visit Cinema Odeon – A 100 year-old theater turned bookstore!

At this point with Bookmarq, y’all already know the drill. I start to feel claustrophobic, take an edible and manic book a solo trip abroad, then visit independent bookstores. I’ve been doing this for probably longer than a mental health professional would determine is healthy, but I argue we all cope with life differently. Personally, I’m at my best hitting on foreign men decades older than me while ordering bottles of local wine. This most recent episode called for bowl after bowl of pasta, so I wound up in Italy. Sue me. My cynicism and mental illness aside, we need to get serious and discuss Cinema Odeon.

Once in a blue moon, a bookstore comes along that alters my worldview. Think Starfield Library hidden in a basement mall in Seoul, South Korea or Atlantis Books nestled in the Cycladic cliffs of Santorini, Greece. During my most recent trip to Florence, my life trajectory was thwarted and upheaved thanks to Cinema Odeon. You might be thinking “Emily, reel in the dramatics” to which I respond “we’re literally within the theater!” And as a former theater kid myself, I basked in its 1920’s art deco glory.

Covid completely ravished Italy’s aging population and infrastructure. After the pandemic, certain industries struggled to return to their pre-March of 2020 operations. The ever-opulent Cinema Odeon was no exception. This 100-year-old institution originally opened in the 1920’s as a diverse motion picture hall, solely screening English-speaking films by the 1980’s. It became a beacon for the English-speaking community of Florence until the pandemic forced Odeon to reevaluate its business model. Facing a forced sale due to finances and zoning laws, Odeon partners Giunti Editore and the Germani family creatively devised a new cinematic strategy.

Although the goal had been to restore the picture hall to its old Hollywood-esque glory, new design ideas were necessary, as a theater might not survive the pandemic aftermath on its own. Insert: a bustling, vibrant bookstore friendly to readers of all ages and genres. Unless you squint and tilt your head 45 degrees, you have very little idea that the bookshelves you’re perusing used to house a movie-going audience. The first-floor seating was ripped out and replaced with shelf after shelf of books, journals, and magazines. Their selection is phenomenal too. There are over 130,000 books on display. Explore fantasy, romance, young adult, non-fiction. Their children’s section is so welcoming to young readers. I lost track of how many parents were reading to their kids.

I’d estimate around 95% of the books they sell are in Italian. However, do not let the language barrier stop you from exploring. These books deserve our time and undivided attention. Because the team preserved the original lighting, it’s the first bookstore I’ve ever visited where the product felt like it was properly on display. If you’ve visited as many bookstores as I have, you know how dimly lit they can be – especially stores specializing in used copies. Leading role new releases and their tried-and-true understudies all felt like a familiar cast of characters. I loved seeing them shine in their well-deserved (and literal) spotlights.

Let’s take a detour from literature to the limelight, as we beeline for the second floor. Odeon’s design team preserved the original balcony seating and the stage, curtains and all. You might walk into the first floor expecting to grab a copy of the latest Sally Rooney release. Instead, you’ll be struck by glitz, glamor and possibly a dose of crippling stage freight. Just ignore the kid-friendly Disney classic projected on the massive screen on stage and picture everyone in their underwear.

After browsing book titles I could loosely translate thanks to four years of scamming my way through high school Italian, I spent about 45 minutes in the balcony watching 101 Dalmatians and The Sword in The Stone. The chairs were so comfortable, I melted into them, and I wasn’t alone. Locals brought headphones to “work from home”. Students studying abroad brought their coursework and an iced Americano from the cafe downstairs. Couples cuddled during day dates. Parents and children snacked and shrieked at the sight of Cruella De Vil. Come evening hours, the bookstore closes and converts to a fully operational movie theater. It displays new movie releases weekly. The night I visited was screening Dune 2. I couldn’t think of a better way to blend traditional and modern where neither era is forced to compromise.

Cinema Odeon just opened in November of 2023, but you’d think its current form was the original. The spirit of community wiped away by the pandemic has been proudly restored. All it took was a little ingenuity, creativity, and zoning law bending by the city of Florence. And thank god for bureaucratic flexibility. Without it, community safe havens like Cinema Odeon would be another tombstone in the cemetery of capitalism.