John Francisconi, the general manager of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Conn. Is finishing up a three-week residency at Otherwise Bookshop in Rome. The residency was made possible by Bookselling Without Borders (BWB), the collaborative program between 13 independent publishers that organizes fellowships for booksellers to attend international book fairs around the world.

Otherwise Bookshop is a tiny English-language bookstore that is a collaboration between Roman bookstore Altroquando and the Italian publisher Edizioni E/O, the owner of Europa Editions in the U.S. Reflecting on his experience, Francisconi said, “Generally speaking, it doesn’t feel a whole lot different from, say, moving from one bookstore to another in the U.S. There’s a till that needs counting, books that need to be received and shelved, phone calls to be answered.”