Stephen Riggio On The Destiny Of His Lifetime

The former Barnes & Noble CEO translated Luigi Natoli's classic Sicilian historical tale, “I Beati Paoli” from Italian to English, and shares how a career in books led him to this project, one he felt needed to be told

“I have always been a voracious reader; of course, encouraged by my parents,” says Stephen Riggio. With a career in books that spanned 40 years, Riggio was always in his element. As a child every night, he read from great writers from H.G. Wells, to Jules Verne, and Dickens. Later he turned to Jane Austen, Updike, Ian Flemming, Orwell and others. Riggio’s career in bookselling began in 1974 when he joined Barnes & Noble, when it operated a single flagship retrial location in York. Books are just as much a part of his early life, as they are a part of his retired life.  

When understanding Riggio, it’s important to understand how important books are central to his life. “I was never a big TV viewer,” he muses. Right now, he’s captivated by all things WWI. For years I have read crime fiction for enjoyment, especially the novels of Andrea Camilleri and Donna Leon,” he says. An anthropology major from Brooklyn College, he seems to be putting that degree more so to use in his retirement era.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Bensonhurst to be exact, Riggio is a true New Yorker and the youngest of three brothers Leonard and Vincent, who have since passed. His parents Stephen Riggio and Pasqualina Capuccio were second-generation Italians, both having grown up in Little Italy in the 1920s. His father was a professional boxer in the late thirties and early forties, beating Rocky Graziano twice. For the next 17 years his father drove taxi, but things changed when Riggio’s brother purchased Barnes & Noble’s main store on Fifth Avenue. “Dad worked there until he passed away at the young age of sixty-two. My mom was a homemaker but applied her skill with a sewing machine to make beautiful decorations for the weddings of the children of family and friends,” he says.

Of Sicilian and Napoleonian heritage, Riggio didn’t grow up speaking Italian, but “we were a close-knit family, proud of being Italian-American,” he explains. His father’s family were from Burgio, in Sicily, but because his paternal grandfather was born out of wedlock, he was raised by a family in Sciacca. His paternal grandparents never returned to Sicily, nor did any of their seven children. “My parents did not visit Italy until they were in their fifties. While my Sicilian grandmother spoke Sicilian and Italian, my parents hardly spoke the language.” His mother’s parents were born in the US, but they hail from the Naples area. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much information on that side of his family, though his maternal grandmother spoke Sicilian and Italian. “She used to read to me from Il Progresso, the newspaper published for Italian-Americans. It was my first exposure to the language,” remembers Riggio.

Stephen with his wife Laura

After the death of his daughter from leukemia in 2008, both Riggio and his wife Laura needed something to fill the loss, so he suggested learning Italian. He studied the language in junior high and high school, but didn’t continue in college. Picking up Italian again has been fulfilling to them both, which has led to them taking dozens of trips to Italy. It was due to his first trip to Sicily in 2013, at the age of 59 that Riggio began uncovering his family ancestry. “I have traced my family's roots back over 400 years,” he says. “Discovering one's family's roots so late in life brings with it enormous pride but also regret.

Wishing he had taken an interest in his family’s history at an earlier age, he’s grateful that he at least started. Since discovering his Sicilian roots, Riggio has met distant relatives and created a familial bond.

Books run through his veins

Books have always flowed through Riggio’s veins, and his family’s. In high school he started working in books, working at his brother Len’s first bookstore, before he bought Barnes & Noble, on Waverly Place in Greenwich Village. “After graduating college, I joined Len's company; I loved the idea of serving people. In 1981, Riggio was made Executive Vice President of Barnes & Noble’s direct mail division. And by 1987 he was made president of the new division, which operated over 700 stores nationwide, after the company acquired B. Dalton Bookseller. And by 1993 he was made the Chief Operating Officer and joined Barnes & Noble’s board of directors. Starting in merchandising and marketing, his responsibility increased until he became CEO in 2002.”

As time passed he took the national bookseller to new heights by making bookselling more egalitarian. Communities that never had access to books now had them. During his tenure at the company there was a shift to digital books and online purchases. “Barnes & Noble sold the first eBook reader, called the Rocket eBook, back in 2002 but we were too early; the market was not ready for it. Among our retail colleagues we entered online retail quite early, back in 1997.” After forty years in bookselling and the loss of his daughter, he and his wife decided that they wanted to explore new things. “I had no specific plans but it does seem like translating Luigi Natoli’s novel was waiting for me,” he says.

Translating “I Beati Paoli,” a fast-paced tale of a secret sect that was the forerunner to the mafia, came about during a homework assignment that Riggio and his wife’s Italian teacher assigned. Reading this story set in Palermo, Sicily in 1713 got Riggio’s wheels turning, especially after he learned that it had never been translated to English.

Taking three years, Riggio is proud of the project. The English title Sicilian Avengers, is inspired by Sicilian history. Quite simply it’s a tale of history and adventure, love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, suffering and retribution, and for Riggio stories like these have a timeless appeal. He’s even confident that Barnes & Noble readers will support the book. “After all, it's been called the "fifth historical monument of contemporary Italian literature,” he says.

But more than anything, Riggio hopes the book will spark a Sicilian interest in readers. And for him, Sicilian Avengers is more than just a translation project, he chalks it up to being his destiny. The death of his daughter led to it and he says, “her presence in it is undeniable. From that tragic event I returned to the study of the language, visited Sicily four times, traced my family's roots back 400 years, discovered distant relatives, translated a classic work of literature, and published it the day before I turned seventy years old. How amazing is all that!” He and his wife continue in their other work, advocating for people with Down Syndrome and developmental disabilities. They keep busy from their home in New York City.