Using period footage, dynamic editing and contemporary testimony, the intense documentary Luigi De Gregori – Saving the Creature brings to light the work of librarian Luigi De Gregori. Despite the chaos and atrocities of the Second World War in Italy, De Gregori managed to protect the country’s literary cultural heritage at the risk of his life.

We are in Rome, in 1936. War is imminent, and the Italian government launches an anti-aircraft protection plan to safeguard the nation’s cultural treasures. Luigi De Gregori, a librarian of international renown, is entrusted with the task of defending the capital’s most precious library heritage, and begins the search for safe hiding places.

With the outbreak of the conflict in 1939, the librarians, recounts Andrea Paoli in his book Salviamo la creatura, are ready: shelters, mainly castles and abbeys along the Apennine ridge, are set up to guard the heritage. From 1942, however, the situation precipitates. The Allies, with bases in North Africa, bombarded the centre-south and landed in Sicily. The books, even those already protected, are now in danger.

A complex relocation operation begins to save half a million volumes. But in 1943, with the armistice and the Nazi invasion, the books not only risk destruction, but also theft by the Nazis, known for their hunger for art. Thanks to an informal network, the Italian librarians, under the leadership of De Gregori, implement what Simonetta Buttò, former director of the National Library of Naples, calls an ‘elastic protection plan’: each director becomes an inventive custodian, adapting to the challenges of his or her territory to safeguard culture.

In these crucial years, De Gregori risked his life, hiding the most precious volumes in the Vatican library and making it his mission, as he wrote in a letter, to ‘save the creature’ of Italian culture. His work, which continued even after the liberation of Rome and during the reconstruction, earned him the title of ‘Italian monument man’ in the library sector. The reflections of Vincenza Iossa, the third interviewee in the documentary, highlight the moral integrity of a man who put culture and the collective heritage even before his own life.

Meeting the Author At the end of the screening, the author will be present in the auditorium to meet the audience and discuss the genesis and making of the documentary. This will be a unique opportunity to learn more about the historical narrative and the profound meaning of this work dedicated to the defence of culture.