Skip to content
serenlibrità

Terms of Service

Last updated: 10 September 2026

In short. Serenlibrità is a platform that connects you with other people to share and lend books near you. We do not sell or ship books: exchanges happen between users, under their own responsibility. By using the service you accept these Terms. The service is for adults only (18+).

1. Who we are and what we do

Serenlibrità (the "service", the "platform") is operated by Alberto Galassi (a natural person; the "operator", "we"). The platform connects users who want to exchange, lend or share books in their area.

The operator is a facilitator: it is not a party to the agreements that arise between users, it does not sell or buy books, does not ship, store or safeguard them, and does not guarantee their existence, availability, condition or return. Any arrangement about books (lending, exchange, gift, delivery or meeting) is made solely between the users.

The name “serenlibrità” is a trademark of Alberto Galassi (application filed in September 2026, registration pending). You may quote it to refer to the service; you may not use it, alone or combined with other signs, to identify your own services, products, websites or accounts, nor register domain names or usernames containing it.

2. Who can sign up

To use Serenlibrità you must:

  • be at least 18 years old;
  • provide truthful information and keep it up to date;
  • use a single personal account and not share your credentials;
  • be responsible for all activity carried out with your account.

3. Your obligations

By signing up you agree to use the service lawfully and with respect for other users. In particular you may not:

  • use the platform to hand over, sell, exchange or deliver anything that is not a book: listings, chats and meetings exist for books and nothing else, and using a book as a pretext or as a means of getting something else to someone is a serious breach of these Terms;
  • upload or offer counterfeit, illegal or unlawfully sourced books;
  • post content that is offensive, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene or that infringes others' rights (including copyright and intellectual property);
  • harass, deceive or endanger other users;
  • enter a deliberately false location or other people's data without authority;
  • attempt to circumvent security measures, overload or compromise the platform, or harvest other users' data by automated means.

4. Exchanges and in-person meetings between users

Loans, exchanges, gifts and any in-person meetings take place under the full and exclusive responsibility of the users involved. The operator is not a party to these relationships and is not liable for the actual condition of a book, for missed or late deliveries, for damage, loss, disputes, or for anything that happens during a meeting. Please use common sense and caution, especially when arranging to meet in person.

A meeting exists solely to hand over or get back a book. Using a loan, an exchange or a meeting as an opportunity or a cover for getting someone anything other than a book — goods, money, substances, services — is prohibited under §3, results in account closure and, where the law so provides, in a report to the competent authorities (§8).

A book left in a book box is a gift, not a loan

Alongside lending, the service offers a second way of passing on a book: the gift. A book you leave in a book box — in Italian a cassetta dei libri — in an open-shelf library or in any other public spot marked on the map is given away to whoever finds it: it does not come back, there is no return date, and no obligation arises between the person who leaves it and the person who takes it. Whoever takes it may keep it, pass it on, or leave it in another book box.

The book boxes and libraries shown on the map are public places the operator does not run: it does not guarantee their existence, accessibility, opening hours or contents, and is not liable for what happens there. Whoever flags a spot states that it is in a place open to the public and that the position given is the real one (§3); whoever leaves a book states that they are entitled to do so. The operator may remove from the map a spot flagged by mistake or abusively, following the procedure in §8.

5. The content you post

You remain the owner of the content you upload (text, photos of your library, profile). By posting it you warrant that you have the right to do so and do not infringe third-party rights, and you grant the operator a free, non-exclusive and limited licence to host, display and make it visible on the platform solely to run the service. The licence ends when you remove the content or close your account, save for technical copies or legal obligations.

The licence also covers the announcement of new books on Serenlibrità's social channels (Instagram and Facebook), limited to title, author and category: the images you upload — covers included — are never published outside the site, and neither is your name or your area. You can exclude your books from these announcements with the corresponding switch in your profile.

6. Reading groups

Reading groups are spaces where registered users write to each other about books. Whoever creates a group becomes its manager; anyone may join, and what is written inside is visible only to the members of the group.

You are responsible for what you write. The obligations of §3 apply in groups too, and in particular you may not:

  • share digital copies of books, files or links that make it possible to download copyright-protected works — Serenlibrità is for lending real books, not for exchanging files;
  • repeat outside the group, or inside the group, private conversations or other people's personal data (contact details, addresses, messages received in chat) without their consent;
  • use the group for advertising, sales or commercial promotion.

"Visible only to members" does not mean secret. Anyone in the group can read, copy and keep what you write, and groups are open to whoever wants to join. Write with that in mind.

What the person who manages a group can do: change its name and description, remove content, remove a member and close the group. They cannot see anything that is not already visible to the other members, and they cannot use these powers to harass anyone: if that happens, the operator of the platform steps in. Whoever manages a group is not liable for what others write, just as the operator of the platform is not liable under the conditions of §9.

If a group is left without a manager because the person who looked after it has left, any member may take over its management. A group can be closed by its manager: the content remains readable to members, but no one writes in it any more and no one else joins.

7. Ratings after a loan

When a loan is completed, the two people involved may rate each other with stars. The votes stay hidden until both have voted or the time to do so has run out: that way nobody votes to reciprocate or to retaliate. Only the average and the number of votes received appear on the profile, never who gave what.

A rating must be about how that exchange went — punctuality, condition of the book, fairness — and not about the person. You may not use it for retaliation, for blackmail (“remove my rating and you get the book back”) or to harm someone in concert with others. Manifestly abusive ratings are removed upon report, under the same rules as §8.

The average is public among members and does not by itself determine any automatic consequence for your account.

8. Reports and what happens next

If you find content that breaches these Terms or the law, report it using the dedicated control next to each piece of content, or write to [email protected]. State which content is involved and why you consider it unlawful or contrary to the Terms.

Every report is examined and its outcome is recorded. Without undue delay from the moment we become aware of it, we may:

  • remove the content or make it no longer visible;
  • remove the person from a group;
  • suspend or close the account, in serious or repeated cases (§10).

The operator does not monitor in advance the content posted by users and is not required to do so. It acts on a report or when it otherwise becomes aware of unlawful content. Anyone whose content has been removed can contest the removal by writing to the address indicated: the decision is reviewed again.

When we notify the authorities. If we become aware of information giving rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person has taken place, is taking place or is likely to take place, we promptly inform the competent authorities and pass on the information available to us, as required by Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act). Outside that case, your data is disclosed to authorities or law enforcement only upon a lawful request and within the limits of what is requested.

9. The service "as is" and limitation of liability

The service is provided "as is", without warranties of continuous availability, freedom from errors or fitness for a particular purpose. We may modify, suspend or discontinue it, in whole or in part, for technical or operational reasons.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the operator is not liable for damages arising from the use or inability to use the service, from relationships between users, or from user-posted content. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that the law does not allow to be excluded: in particular, under Article 1229 of the Italian Civil Code, liability for wilful misconduct or gross negligence remains in force, as do the mandatory rights you have as a consumer.

10. Suspension and closure of the account

We may suspend or close an account that breaches these Terms or the law, or that endangers other users or the platform, giving reasonable notice where possible. You can close your account at any time from your personal area.

11. Changes to the Terms

We may update these Terms (for example to reflect changes to the service or the law). We will publish the new version and date here. In the event of substantial changes, the next time you open the service we will ask you to re-read and accept the updated version in order to keep using Serenlibrità.

12. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by Italian law. If you act as a consumer, any dispute falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the court of the place where you reside or are domiciled (consumer's forum), and the mandatory protections afforded to you remain unaffected.

13. Contact

For any question about these Terms you can write to Alberto Galassi: [email protected].

14. Language

The Italian version of these Terms is the legally binding one. The English translation is provided for convenience only: in case of discrepancy the Italian text prevails.