From the personal library of Massimo D'Antona, kindly donated to the Labour Law Institute of the Law Faculty by his wife Olga in 2001, to the virtual library we launch in 2022 for Massimo D'Antona, the step was long in time, but closed in concept. The Biblioteca 20 Maggio, dedicated to the memory of the Maestro, collects in a series of volumes all the working papers spontaneously sent in the last twenty years to the Centre for the Study of European Labour Law ‘Massimo D’Antona’ by hundreds of Italian and international scholars. Along with the publication of volumes collecting previous working papers, the Biblioteca 20 maggio will continue to be nourished by the contributions the Centre will receive and publish as volumes on a semi-annual basis.

We are confident that – irrespective of the formal values of academic publications and beyond any impact factor - such an open access space will continue to be perceived as a forum where the global community of labour law scholars might discuss and debate for the sake of knowledge, as Massimo D’Antona taught us.