Edicola 518, a historic newsstand turned red reading kiosk in Perugia

Newsstands used to be where people stopped to buy the day's news. Italian designer Giuseppe Arezzi's idea for Edicola 518, a kiosk on Perugia's historic Sant'Ercolano staircase, is that people still stop, only now to rest and read. The project won an open call from the Italian Ministry of Culture under the L'Edicola che Vorrei initiative, marks the kiosk's tenth anniversary, and reopened on 1 June 2026 as a community reading spot rather than a sales stall.

Arezzi kept the original shell but painted it a single saturated red that stands out sharply against the stone steps. Inside, the usual vendor's counter is gone, replaced by stepped seating in lacquered oak that hides the technical kit. At its centre sits a stainless-steel fountain offering free drinking water to anyone passing. The window frames now open outwards as display racks for independent magazines and art books.

A platform reaches out onto the stairs so there's still somewhere to sit after closing time, and Ambo, a 20-centimetre modular stool that doubles as a book stand, was made with the Seed Festival to match the height of each step. The article comes from designboom's reader-submission feature, so it's the designer's own account. Worth a pause if you're climbing through Perugia's old centre with a book in your bag.

Our summary of a story from designboom, published 29 October 2026. Read the original