The Casanatense Library is located in the center of Rome, between Piazza Venezia and Piazza della Rotonda (Pantheon) and was established by the Dominican fathers of the Convent of S. Maria sopra Minerva in Rome as a public utility library, by the will of Cardinal Girolamo Casanate (1620-1700).
Opened in 1701, at the completion of the building specifically constructed in the area of a cloister of the Minerva, designed by the architect Antonio Maria Borioni, its initial core was the collection of Cardinal Casanate, rich in over 25,000 volumes. The library was connected with the main centers of the European book trade and was interested both in current production and the antiquarian market, aiming to create the ‘universal library’.
It stood out among Roman libraries for its enlightened acquisition policy and for the expert bibliographic and cataloguing activity, especially linked to the figure of Giovanni Battista Audiffredi (1714-1794).
In 1873, when the law on religious corporations was extended to Rome, a government official was appointed alongside the Dominican prefect (the library director), and for a few years the Casanatense was administered jointly with the National Library Vittorio Emanuele II, with which it even had a direct passage through a skywalk built between the two buildings.
In 1884, following an unfavorable judicial dispute for the Dominicans against the Italian state, they were replaced with state personnel.
After being administered by the Ministry of Public Education, today the library is a Peripheral Institute of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.
