Amazon and leading Italian bookstore chain Giunti announced an exclusive agreement to launch an innovative bookstore model, blending digital and physical reading together, and offering Giunti customers access to a wide selection of Amazon products. Italian customers will be able to discover and buy Kindle e-readers in 170 Giunti al Punto bookstores by the end of the summer. Giunti booksellers will help readers find print or digital books they want that are most suitable for their literary tastes.

Starting today through December 31, 2014, Giunti al Punto customers will receive five free Kindle books of their choice, from the Giunti catalog when they buy any Kindle e-reader at the Giunti al Punto bookstores.

Later this year and with the support of Amazon, Giunti al Punto bookstores will open an online shop where its customers will have access to a vast selection of books, physical media products and toys available on Amazon.it. Customers of the Giunti online shop will benefit from a great customer experience from Amazon logistics, delivery and customer service. Moreover, for every purchase on the new Giunti online shop, customers will also earn Giunti points, which can be converted into vouchers and spent in the Giunti al Punto physical bookstores.

"Giunti, with its centenary history, and its bookstore chain, among Italy's best known and loved, continue to innovate on behalf of its customers," said Jorrit Van der Meulen, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Amazon and Giunti share the same core values: customer obsession and a passion for reading. With its 170 bookstores, Giunti is the ideal partner for Amazon to help Italian readers discover the benefits of digital reading."

"The Giunti-Amazon agreement represents a milestone to advance the bookstore experience for our customers and promote reading in Italy, in any possible format," said Martino Montanarini, Giunti CEO. "The Kindle ecosystem is truly appreciated by customers all over the world, thanks to this agreement, we can make the largest possible selection of books, digital innovation and eBooks available to our customers, adding the Italian Kindle Store and the Giunti online shop to the traditional Giunti al Punto offer."

The Amazon.it Kindle Store offers more than 2.5 million books, including one of the largest selections of books in Italian-with over 75,000 titles, including free classics and thousands of books for less than $ 1.99. Amazon also has agreements with Waterstones, the UK's largest brick and mortar bookseller, and independent bookstores in the US.