In 2024, over 85,000 book titles were published in Italy. This means almost 240 new titles every day, including New Year's Day and Ferragosto. An enormous number of books for a minority of readers. Yet there are at least five good reasons to read (and buy) "Towards Sarajevo" (by Fabio Masotti, Aska Editions, 144 pages, 15 euros).

The first reason is the author. I met Masotti on a bicycle. He founded the Fiab of Siena (then Italian Federation of Bicycle Friends, now Italian Federation of Bicycle Environment), he created Bimbimbici (an initiative to spread bicycle use among young people), he has written books on two wheels and two pedals ("Chianti and Senese Crete by Bicycle", Ediciclo, 2007; "Flaminian Way - a bicycle journey", Aska, 2018; "Cassia Vetus and the Etruscan Territory" with Massimo Barbagli and Giovanni Cardinali, Aska, 2022...), he's the one who, when you call him, responds "I'll call you back later" and explains "I'm on my bike". Masotti was a teacher (Italian, history...) and is a traveler as Confucius intended ("Wherever you go, go with your heart").

The second reason is the means. The bicycle: slowly fast, quickly slow, silent, peaceful, naked and simple, unarmed and disarming, always within time and space, sun rain wind, from scorching heat to frost, from dawn to sunset and even after, agile and fragile, this time with pedal assistance, "without regrets or improbable nostalgia", with different parameters (consumed battery marks), but without altering "the poetry and childlike happiness that every bicycle traveler carries within at the moment of departure and nurtures during the experience".

The third reason is the departure. Trieste is still Habsburg and Mediterranean, Italian and Slavic, Jewish and Central European, it is land and sea, port and city, even if changed in recent decades, Liberty Square where Linea d'Ombra operates, "a volunteer association that provides 'first aid to those in need: injured feet from enduring marches without shoes, bodies torn by hunger and covered in rags, souls destroyed by a thousand humiliations suffered".

The fourth reason is the arrival. Sarajevo - Masotti had already been there a decade before, had known and loved it -, its suburbs and bridges, its Viennese palaces and Bosnian essence, its heavy traffic and life-saving bike paths, its Olympic mountain and popular street stalls, the sniper avenue and urban wandering. "The city sucks us into its belly".

The fifth reason is the journey. "Towards Sarajevo", Fabio was also accompanied by his friend Massimo, 620 kilometers in eight stages, ten including those to reach Trieste and return to Italy (but I believe if the days were doubled, Masotti would be happy). A journey of approach and introduction, a journey of knowledge and recognition, a journey to undress and load up, a journey that is a long slow chase, or perhaps pursuit, a journey also through other books (from Umberto Saba to Ivo Andric, from Pier Paolo Pasolini to Egidio Ivetic, from Italo Calvino to Alexander Langer), a journey as always within oneself.

P.S. If Fabio Masotti were to call me, I would first not respond "I'll call you back later" even if I were on a bike, hoping he would propose a bicycle journey, and then I would immediately say yes. It won't happen. But ultimately, thanks to this book, it has already happened