The origins of the Riccardiana collection date back to Riccardo Romolo Riccardi in the 16th century, but the family reached the height of its prestige in 1659, when they acquired the Palazzo di Via Larga from the Medici. After significant restoration and expansion, both their book and art collections found a splendid home there.
The grand hall, renowned for Luca Giordano’s frescoes, served as the entrance to the library’s main room, where Giordano decorated the ceiling with a uniquely unified celebratory iconographic program. Today, the magnificent carved and gilded bookcases are still on display, allowing visitors to experience a perfectly preserved patrician library from the late 17th century.
In the late 1600s, Francesco Riccardi significantly expanded the family’s collection. His wife Cassandra, daughter of Vincenzio Capponi—a noted scholar close to Galileo—brought to the library a rich trove of scientific and philosophical texts inherited from her father.
In 1794, Gabriello Riccardi bought the family library, with its 1,480 manuscripts, and added it to his own private collection of 1,500 manuscripts, using new bookcases constructed in 1786. His collection also featured prestigious liturgical codices and documents from figures such as Giovanni Lami, Lorenzo Mehus, and Giuseppe Averani. By the late 18th century, the Riccardi family faced financial difficulties, and the library was put up for auction. Thanks to a timely acquisition by the Municipality of Florence in 1813, and its transfer to the State in 1815, the Riccardiana became a public library—though scholars had already been welcomed since the Riccardi era.
The library’s manuscript collection is especially valuable, featuring original works by Petrarch, Boccaccio, Savonarola, and leading humanists, as well as stunning illuminated manuscripts, precious bindings, and important sections from aristocratic and Renaissance libraries. The collection also includes notable correspondence from distinguished figures and rare documents on theater, pharmacopoeia, travel, and the history and literature of Tuscany and Florence in particular.
Practical information — Biblioteca Riccardiana
Via Ginori, 10 50123 Florence
