Paperbacks in cardboard slipcases are better than paperbacks without. The Italians aren't QUITE as bad as the French in some ways with respect to paperbacks being preferred, but in other ways they're worse (i.e., no consistent publisher like Pleiade for hardcovers of classic works). They have a series modeled after Pleiade, but it's never available (or almost never). However, the only books I couldn't ultimately find in one hardcover edition or another were, oddly enough, Orlando Furioso to complement the paperback Orlando Innamorato, Italo Calvino's work and Lampedusa's Il Gattopardo. Orlando's not getting the love, and more contemporary writers (aside from Eco) seem to have gotten the shaft as well. Petrarch, Dante, Boccaccio, Leopardi, Manzoni, Machiavelli, Aretino, and Eco were all easy to find in nice hardcovers. Oh, Castiglione was a paperback, too.