It’s a question I asked myself many times before embarking on this journey.

I was born in 1972. I conducted my first research, starting in elementary school, by reading the Grande Enciclopedia GE20 De Agostini (20 paper volumes), along with two other encyclopedias: one on history and another on art.

I remember the beautiful photographs, the reproductions of early advertisements, political and election posters, and works of art reproduced with extraordinary fidelity.

I still remember my research project (today we would perhaps call it a “term paper”) on Sicily, Italy’s largest region, which I prepared in fifth grade: it was between 1978 and 1983.

Meanwhile, in 1980, the VIC 20 was released and I started writing in BASIC and duplicating video game cassettes (I’ve always loved technology). Was there not enough money to buy the 5¼ floppy disk drive?

Then came the 3½ floppy disks, the Iomega Zip with 100 MB, then 250 and finally 750 (I still have some full cases, now unreadable). Then came CDs, DVDs, USB sticks, and so on.

A few years later, the parents of a dear friend of mine, who was younger than me, bought the same De Agostini encyclopedia on 5¼ floppy disks, which were flexible and extremely delicate.

And here we are at the crux of the matter: even today, most of these media are unreadable, either because the materials are fragile or because there are no longer any compatible readers. In ten years’ time, almost all computer media will probably be unusable.

The question is therefore inevitable: in ten years’ time, who will still be able to read GE20? Me, with my paper volumes, or my friend with his floppy disks?

Antiquus was created to preserve what stands the test of time and return it as a gift to the future.

Each facsimile is a message that has traveled through the centuries: not just a simple book, but the living voice of those who created and handed it down.

And when a buyer chooses to welcome it, that ancient message merges with their own, becoming a new and unique work of art.

It is no longer just a memory: it is a personal testimony, a distinctive mark, a legacy that will carry with it the value of the past and the identity of its owner.

Thus, every Antiquus manuscript becomes an unbreakable link between eras: a fragment of eternity that unites history and life, culture and destiny, past and future.