The Merigar Library continues to be an increasingly vibrant and dynamic cultural hub. In 2025, our community was enriched by extraordinary initiatives, valuable donations, and future projects that promise to make this space even more welcoming and functional.
Library Talks: Eight Years!
Merigar’s “Library Talks” reached its eighth edition in 2025, confirming itself as an unmissable event for lovers of culture and knowledge. Once again this year, the edition embraces different disciplines and offers the public a fascinating journey through music, spirituality, science, and Oriental art. These meetings, included in Merigar’s already rich calendar, represent a valuable bridge between ancient and contemporary knowledge, offering short but intense journeys into different worlds.
The 2025 edition stands out for the variety and depth of the topics covered, presenting nine events spread throughout the year, ranging from traditional medicine to ornithology, archaeology to musicology, Buddhist spirituality to Japanese aesthetics. The diverse audience, made up of many people from our community and the surrounding area, but also visitors who came from afar to listen to specific talks, warmly welcomed all the initiatives, participating in large numbers in the various events.
Spring and Summer Meetings
The cycle opened on April 18, during the Easter holidays, with “Returning to the World: Conception, Gestation, and Birth According to Tibetan Medicine” with Gino Vitiello, a meeting organized in collaboration with Shang Shung UK. It was a fascinating exploration of the traditional Tibetan view of fundamental life processes.
On May 24, the meeting on the theme “Maturity: An Identity to be Discovered” with Maria Berica Tortorani created a space for deep reflection to explore new possibilities and enhance the resources of a phase of life, old age, often defined only as a time of loss and difficulty.
With the arrival of summer, we organized the meeting “The voices of birds” (June 28) with Marco Dragonetti of GOM (Gruppo Ornitologico Maremmano), an association with which we have been collaborating for some time. The expert talked to us about how over 10,000 species of birds around the world use their voices not only to “sing,” but also to survive, communicate vital messages, and interact in surprisingly sophisticated ways. As with other meetings with this association, this was followed by a walk to listen to the voices of birds together, followed by a short second listening session at night.
On July 26, Emanuele Mariotti, director of the excavation at the sanctuary of San Casciano dei Bagni, presented the recent discoveries in one of Italy’s most significant archaeological projects. Under his guidance, San Casciano dei Bagni has revealed extraordinary treasures: the famous Bronzes of San Casciano (2022), the two-meter marble statue of Apollo (2023), and continuous discoveries of bronze snakes, gold, and unique artifacts. The site represents an ancient thermal sanctuary that probably served as an ante-litteram hospital, where Etruscans and Romans went to be healed by the sacred waters, often leaving votive offerings as a sign of gratitude for graces received. Dr. Mariotti shared with us the story of this extraordinary archaeological adventure that continues to rewrite the history of the Etruscan-Roman world, at a site located just one hour’s drive from Merigar!
The Rich Program of August
August saw three events of great interest. In the first, on August 16, Giovanna Natalini explored the theme of musical transmission through the centuries. “How we communicate music. A journey through Western tradition on how music is handed down: oral tradition, writing, and recordings” was a fascinating excursus that analyzed the evolution of methods of preserving and disseminating Western musical heritage.
The second event, “Beyond Words: Deep Meanings of Sanskrit and Tibetan Yogic Terminology,” held on August 21, saw Fabian Sanders guide us through the world of spiritual semantics. This meeting, part of the Yoga Holidays organized at Merigar, helped us understand how the sacred languages of the East embody complex philosophical and spiritual concepts that are often untranslatable into Western languages.
The last meeting in August, “Why mathematics is important and why (often) we don’t realize it,” with mathematician Roberto Natalini, was a particularly entertaining and engaging event. With an innovative approach, the expert managed to bring the audience closer to a discipline often perceived as abstract and inaccessible, if not useless, demonstrating how mathematics permeates many aspects of our daily lives and intriguing even the most skeptical.
On September 26, “The Twenty-One Faces of Compassion: a journey through the iconography of the 21 Taras” was presented by Giorgio Dallorto while on October 4 the audience was treated to a special addition of Adriano Clemente’s recent travels in Tibet!
Training for Translators
In addition to the Talks, this year the library once again hosted the Training for Translators from Tibetan led by Fabian Sanders, now in its 23rd edition. Although there were more participants online than in person, the work done together was intense and productive, characterized by great enthusiasm and a spirit of collaboration.
Donations, Developments, and Future Projects
Speaking of the library, we cannot fail to mention books! New donations have arrived, including a very large one recently due to the generosity of Martha Boyden, who already donated many books a few years ago, and this year donated even more, many of them related to Dzogchen. We now need new shelving to accommodate them properly. Fortunately, with the switch to a new heating system throughout the building, the pellet stove has been moved, freeing up a new section of wall, perfect for the new shelves we plan to order shortly. Another noteworthy gift has arrived from the local Arcidosso community: valuable documentation concerning Merigar and its history, carefully curated over the years by the late Mr. Achille Bargagli.
We have several projects planned for next year: we would like to install a fixed audio system for the Talks, mount a larger screen for projections, and equip ourselves with a cooling system for hot summer days. We will continue, when possible, to make the Talks accessible outside the library as well.
Heartfelt thanks go to all the speakers who made our “Library Talks” possible: Gino Vitiello, Maria Berica Tortorani, Marco Dragonetti, Emanuele Mariotti, Giovanna Natalini, Fabian Sanders, and Roberto Natalini. Their generosity in sharing their knowledge and experiences has enriched our community, making each meeting a precious moment of growth and discovery.
Special thanks go to Tiziana Gottardi for her constant support in organizing and running the events, and to all those who participated enthusiastically in the meetings.
Finally, our gratitude extends to all the library’s donors, with special recognition to Martha Boyden for her exceptionally generous contributions.
For information and visits to the library, please write to biblioteca@merigar.it. See you soon for new cultural adventures together!
