Antonio La Cava: The Teacher who sails stories to abandoned villages

Silent hills surround Basilicata, Italy—no rumble of a tractor or delivery vehicle, but that of a small three-wheeled van packed with wonder. Behind the wheel is Antonio La Cava, a retired educator with a passion for stories and a purpose that transcends age, habit, and even solitude of abandoned villages.

At 42 years of teaching, Antonio did not opt for the convenience of retirement. Rather, he opted for open roads and the imagination. He transformed his small 'Ape' 3-wheeler van into a colorful mobile library—Il Bibliomotocarro. Filled with shelves of children's books, brightly painted murals, and scribbled hand signs beckoning young readers, this small van has become an icon of curiosity and hope for the children in far-flung, usually neglected villages spread over the Italian landscape.

Antonio goes to villages whose populations are usually fewer than a thousand—villages where there are no libraries and bookstores are nothing but dreams. There, he pulls in with his van in the town square, holds court under the open sky, and reads. His words make fairy tales come alive, open up distant lands, and tell stories that linger after his van has driven off.

But Antonio doesn't merely dispense books—he sparks imagination. In every village, he brings exercise books, compelling kids to write the first chapter of a story. He then carries that notebook to the next village, where different kids pick up the story. By doing so, he doesn't only connect tales but connects communities, one imagination at a time.

"I was deeply concerned about aging in a land of non-readers," Antonio whispers. So he decided to be part of the solution. His bibliomotocarro has become a beloved fixture in Basilicata—where education comes on three wheels, driven not by gasoline alone but by empathy and intention.

Antonio La Cava's odyssey serves as a reminder that one small action, performed with love, has the power to change lives. In each village that he stops in, he leaves with more than books—he leaves with the knowledge that stories are important, that children are important, and that even a tiny van can hold the world within it.