CDA was founded in 1975 in the City Council Hall of Mulazzo, a small town in Lunigiana which was the birthplace of the families of itinerant booksellers, later founders of the Bancarella Prize.
Eleven regional distributors joined forces to offer their services to publishing houses.

By negotiating the conditions with just one person and meeting all the distributors in the first office in Bologna, the publisher could count on the coverage of bookstores throughout the country, on the uniformity of relationships and discuss the programs with those who dealt with the market on a daily basis.

The initiative was successful and CDA soon transformed from an association into a company.

In 1983 the first warehouse was born and subsequently the interdependent relationship with the individual distributors ceased but not the strong professional bond with them which still constitutes the distinctive peculiarity of CDA in the local territories.

Today, as then, publishers, through a single contact with CDA, are promoted and distributed at a national level, relieved of administrative and editorial warehouse problems, and can also monitor the progress of their publications through a dedicated digital platform.

Over time the structures have always adapted to the needs of the market without neglecting that personal and human relationship between publishers, distributors, promoters and booksellers that has characterized CDA since its origins.