The Canio's Books Blog

If you’ve seen our logo, an adorable clown banging a large drum and standing atop a pile of books, you may have wondered who he is….Opera lovers likely will recognize the billowing costumed figure as Pagliaccio, a character from the commedia dell’arte. The great Enrico Caruso is perhaps best known in the role in Leoncavallo’s popular opera, Pagliacci. Stepping further into the story, the actor who plays Paglicaccio in this play- within- a- play is named Canio. From here we direct you to read a bit of our shop history at our website’s homepage, http://www.caniosbooks.com. Our founding owner is Canio Pavone! Ecco la! There it is! Canio’s wife, the artist Nohra Barros created the design back in 1980 when the shop first opened. While we often have opera playing in the shop, and sometimes even Pagliacci, particularly on Sundays…there’s always good music in the shop, as well as our hand-selected collection of books. We have a particular interest in books by Italian authors, Italian history, literature and culture, keeping the best of that tradition and heritage alive. That little clown, Pagliaccio, reminds us of the source of much of our inspiration.