Next to the Santa Maria sopra Minerva complex there is an extraordinary treasure trove of European culture: the Casanatense Library. Founded at the behest of Cardinal Girolamo Casanate, who bequeathed his vast collection of books and a substantial income to the creation of a library open to the public, it was established with a revolutionary aim for its time: to make knowledge accessible to academics and the city, becoming a place for research, discussion and the dissemination of culture. Opened in 1701, it quickly became one of the continent’s most important libraries thanks to continuous acquisitions from the leading European book markets.
Today, the library houses a collection of around 400,000 volumes, including thousands of engravings, maps, music collections and historical documents. Its holdings include precious medieval illuminated manuscripts, scientific texts, Oriental manuscripts, extremely rare first editions and even autographs by Niccolò Paganini – all testaments to a collection that chronicles centuries of European cultural history.
The tour takes visitors through the library’s extraordinary rooms – true masterpieces of 18th-century architecture – where monumental wooden bookcases, elegant galleries and antique reading tables perfectly capture the atmosphere of the great libraries of the Age of Enlightenment. The tour culminates in the splendid Grand Hall, the beating heart of the library, conceived as a veritable temple of knowledge, and traces the history of an institution that has been safeguarding some of Italy’s most precious bibliographic treasures for over three centuries. To make the experience even more exclusive, visitors will have the chance to admire a selection of ancient manuscripts and volumes from the library’s historical collections: a rare opportunity to view at close quarters works which, for conservation reasons, are only displayed to the public on exceptional occasions.
Every shelf and every volume in the Casanatense Library bear witness to the ambitious project to create a universal library designed to pass on knowledge through the centuries. A special opportunity to discover a truly evocative spot in the capital and be amazed by one of Europe’s most important book collections.
