Established in 1629 by the Venetian Republic as a “convenience” and “decorum” and “major ornament” of the University of Padua, it is the oldest university library in Italy. In 1631 it was transferred from its original location, the Jesuit convent near Pontecorvo, to the prestigious Sala dei Giganti of the prefectural palace. The increase in books was to be ensured by the mandatory deposit of a copy of everything printed in the territory of the Venetian Republic and by a tax imposed on graduates and newly appointed professors. A significant contribution was made during the 17th and 18th centuries by the acquisition of private libraries of the professors, including those of jurist Bartolomeo Selvatico (1631), mathematician Bartolomeo Sovero (1632), physicians Pompeo Caimo (1636) and Giacomo Zabarella (1646), jurist Gianbattista Rainis (1725), and botanist Felice Viali (1727). In the last decades of the eighteenth century, the library of the great anatomist Giambattista Morgagni, of the naturalist Antonio Vallisneri, and the printed books of the Padua monastery of the Lateran Canons of St. John of Verdara, suppressed in 1783, were merged. Following the suppression of religious Corporations during the Napoleonic era, a large quantity of manuscripts, incunabula, and printed books from the libraries of about 40 monasteries were confiscated and in 1867, after national unification, there was a new significant increase, with a total growth of about 13,000 works. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the library of the Natio Germanica, the most important corporation of foreign students in Padua, was acquired. Among bequests, donations, and funds received between the 19th and 20th centuries, the Morpurgo collection (1,300 works concerning the history and literature of Semitic peoples) and the Ardigò collection (manuscripts of the positivist philosopher Roberto Ardigò and about 2,200 volumes belonging to him and his disciple Giovanni Marchesini, acquired in 1984) should be mentioned. In 1912 the Library left the Sala dei Giganti premises, which had become entirely insufficient, to occupy the current seat, a state-owned building that was the first in Italy built with modern criteria specifically for library use.
Information about the University Library of Padua
Via S. Biagio, 7
35121 Padua (Padua)
0498240211
bu-pd@beniculturali.it
https://www.bibliotecauniversitariapadova.beniculturali.it/
Monday-Friday 8:30 AM – 7:30 PM Saturday 8:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Source: MIBACT
