The article traces the history of the Luigi Einaudi Public Library that was donated in 1963 to the Municipality of Dogliani by Giulio Einaudi to honor the memory of his father, the first President of the Italian Republic. The library was conceived as an example for public libraries in rural municipalities as an immediate tool for democracy and socialization of culture. It was therefore designed as a model to be exported. The article analyses the relationship between this library model and the cultural project that Einaudi was pursuing through his publishing house in the same years. The article is organised in two parts. In the first which is dedicated to the history of the Dogliani library, the author identifies five values _that underlie both the publishing house and the library project. In the second part the author tries to answer the following question: "Can a library model work if it is not the expression of a clear and well-defined cultural project?". Starting from the model potentialities and its traces - which seem to have failed for different reasons - the author highlights the main lesson the history of the "Dogliani library model" teaches us: the need for a method.
Keywords: Luigi Einaudi Library of Dogliani, Giulio Einaudi, History of public library, Einaudi cultural project, promotion of reading, Einaudi publishing house.