Biblioteca Comunale Mozzi Borgetti
| Biblioteca Comunale Mozzi Borgetti | |
|---|---|
|
|
| founding | March 31, 1787 |
| Duration | 400,000 |
| Library type | Communal library |
| place |
Macerata 
|
| ISIL | T-MC0049 (Biblioteca comunale Mozzi-Borgetti) |
| operator | Comune Macerata |
| Website | biblioteca.comune.macerata.it |
The Biblioteca Comunale Mozzi Borgetti was founded in 1773 on the premises of the abolished Jesuit college and is the municipal library of Macerata .
Based on the numerous donations that have been made in almost 250 years of activity, the library takes its name from the brothers Bartolomeo and Giuseppe Mozzi, who belong to an old Macerater family, and from the Dominican Tommaso Borgetti. In the first few years after the library opened, they were the protagonists for the most important estates and the award of economic subsidies to ensure public access to the library.
The steadily growing number of donations received over the years makes it one of the most important libraries in the Marche and Central Italy: It has more than 350,000 volumes, including over 10,000 manuscripts, 300 incunabula and over 4,000 editions from the 16th century.
The photo library, which was set up as a specific part of the library in the 1970s, contains over 37,000 pictures and 56,000 glass negatives, which primarily document local history (events, people, customs, town planning, monuments, works of art).
The Mozzi Borgetti library is part of the Macerata Cultura Biblioteca e Musei institution and participates in the Nati per leggere project to promote reading for children aged 0 to 6 years.
history
From the Jesuit college to the public library
From the end of the 15th century, the city of Macerata established itself as the seat of the government organs of the Mark Ancona and became the center and cultural meeting point. Already known for the legal theory, Pope Paul III. introduced general study in 1540, attaching great importance to the small core of scholars, and officially breathing life into the university within a few years thanks to the efforts of the community. He managed to win teachers of great fame and prestige and to compete with older universities such as Bologna , Padua and Perugia .
In connection with the cultural renewal, the Jesuits came to Macerata in 1561, where, after a temporary agreement in 1600, they began work on a permanent home: the Church of San Giovanni and the adjoining building that was previously used as a hospital. Here was the college in which Matteo Ricci studied before he went to the East, and in particular the rich library with which the Jesuits were equipped.
On July 21, 1773, Pope Clement XIV ordered the dissolution of the Jesuits with the Bull Dominus ac Redemptor . This led to a dispute between the city of Macerata and Bishop Carlo Augusto Peruzzini over the handover of the premises of the former Jesuit college and the precious goods contained therein. Thanks to the intercession of Cardinals Mario Compagnoni Marefoschi and Guglielmo Pallotta, shortly after December 15, 1773, the Pope allowed the Macerata community to use the university building and the Church of San Giovanni.
Thanks to another great support of the new Pope Pius VI. whose coat of arms is in the second room of the old library halls, the community was able to build a real public library for all scholars, which was officially opened on March 31, 1787.
With the Napoleonic government in Italy there were again disputes over the ownership of the building, whose library rooms had been finely furnished by painters, goldsmiths and craftsmen. When the new state apparatus decided to put the premises up for sale, the Macerata community encountered significant legal and economic difficulties. In 1814, however, the decree of the Napoleonic general Joachim Murat was passed, which gave the palace of S. Giovanni free of charge to the city of Macerata because of its proximity to the church of the same name.
donate
The library, which originally consisted of around 5,000 volumes, was expanded through the estate of lawyer Francesco Mornati. Thanks to the valuable collection of Bartolomeo Mozzi, the last descendant of a wealthy Macerat family, and his personal commitment to transforming an already important book collection into a real bibliographic institute, the library has undergone major organizational changes. It was provided with its own financial means and an organization that made the collection accessible to the public.
The large sums of money made it possible for him to lay down precise provisions on the use of the funds and the management of the institute's supervision which was entrusted to the community. At this point he felt the time was ripe for the appointment of a librarian to take care of the administration and maintenance of the book holdings. The choice fell on Domenico Troili, the first official librarian since 1786. Troili was not chosen by chance: he had already gained experience as a librarian at the Estense de Modena .
The library's holdings grew in the course of the 19th century through significant donations, including that of the Dominican Tommaso Borgetti in 1833 , from which a second library with separate administration emerged, the "Borgettiana", until the two institutes were merged in 1855 after Borgetti's death came.
There were also bequests from famous Macerat artists, including the art historian Amico Ricci , whose extensive library and manuscripts arrived with all working materials. The monastery libraries, which were closed after the reunification of Italy, made a significant contribution, of which 19,000 volumes were confiscated.
The most important additions of the last century include:
- the library of the Castiglioni family from Cingoli , to which Pope Pius VIII belonged, which was acquired in 1935 and contained around 20,000 volumes
- the unpublished manuscripts of Abbot Colucci, author of Antichità Picene
- the correspondence of Luigi Lanzi , Diomede Pantaleoni , Giuseppe Neroni (with 88 letters from Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli )
- the material that the musicologist Giuseppe Radiciotti, a great Rossini biographer and scholar, collected for a lexicon on musicians in the region
- the archive of Ireneo Aleandri , the architect of the Sferisterio of Macerata
- the library and archive of the literary historian Giulio Natali
- the correspondence of the Ricci Petrocchini family and the books that Massimo D'Azeglio included
- the Ciccolini Foundation
The case of the Biblioteca Pantaleoni
In 2000, after nearly 75 years of legal dispute on various subjects, the library of the macerate economist Maffeo Pantaleoni was incorporated. The Pantaleoni family had built a library of more than 7,600 volumes in the people of Diomede and Maffeo Pantaleoni over the past two centuries, the result of a cultural mission of absolute national and international value. Diomede, a leading figure in the Marche Risorgimento, had collected numerous political texts and various manuscripts by important figures with whom he had worked, such as Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour and Massimo d'Azeglio. The central core of the book collection of his son Maffeo, who was also a parliamentarian and later a senator of the Kingdom of Italy , consisted of books on purely economic topics, with a particular specialization in volumes in the original language from Eastern Europe. There were also a large number of historical texts relating to Italian colonial history and the final period of Maffeo Pantaleoni's life, during which he increasingly turned away from radical and socialist positions in order to increasingly turn to the fascist regime.
On his death in 1925, he ordered that his children Massimo and Marcella should inherit the extensive family library, that they should only keep the books of their interest and that they should donate the rest of the valuable collection of the Biblioteca Comunale Mozzi Borgetti, which had already received numerous correspondence from had received Diomede as a present from his father. The legacy never became official because, at the will of the then Prime Minister Benito Mussolini , the Pantaleoni Library was entrusted to the Ministry of Finance for temporary custody so that it could be rearranged, stored and cataloged. These activities were never carried out and the library has been considered an integral part of the ministry over the years. Massimo and Marcella Pantaleoni began working together with the Macerata community to ensure compliance with the will. They knew how much the library would be a great asset to the already considerable archive of Mozzi Borgetti. From the 1950s onwards, the Ministry decided to seal the Pantaleoni legacy in response to these requests, which were also submitted to the Attorney General's Office. It was made clear to the Macerata community that they in no way considered him a legitimate heir, as Maffeo's moral will had no legal value. The only ones who could request the library until his death were Massimo and Marcella, who, however, never managed to get out of this bureaucratic madness, in which several people had died by then.
The turning point came in 1995, when, thanks to the intervention of MP Valerio Calzolaio, it was possible to circumvent the rules that prevented the return of the valuable collection to Macerata: the Biblioteca Mozzi Borgetti was officially commissioned to manage Pantaleoni's library following a parliamentary request open to scientific consultation while the Treasury remained the depositary.
The new library room was called “Sala Pantaleoni” and was inaugurated on June 21, 2000 by the then President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi with a public ceremony in the presence of the political authorities of Macerata. Marcella Pantaleoni, who a few years after the inauguration, donated a number of valuable family portraits, which are now on display in the new room, provided further confirmation of the established connection between the Macerates family and Mozzi Borgetti.
Headquarters
The "Building of San Giovanni"
Although the Jesuit Church of San Giovanni does not have Lombard origins, to which other Macerata churches are attributed, its construction goes back to the very beginning of Macerata's history.
In 1138 , after liberating itself from the rule of the Bishops of Fermo , the Macerata community welcomed the arrival of the Order of the Frati Ospedalieri di Gerusalemme in the city, which contributed to spreading the spiritual climate of the Crusades. It was not until June 1174 that the Church of San Giovanni was donated to the Jerusalemites, to which an outbuilding was added, which the brothers themselves used as a hospital until 1296. With the establishment of the Diocese of Macerata in the middle of the 14th century, it was renovated and connected to the Church of San Giovanni and from then on inhabited by archdeacons who performed normal parish functions.
As in the second half of the 16th century, the Catholic Reformation and its impact on the preaching and Evangelisierungsmethoden became noticeable in Macerata, the community insisted the Jesuits of Ignatius Loyola to call that in August 1561 by Pius IV. In The church of San Giovanni and the adjoining old hospital were granted a concession, which over the centuries repeatedly led to disputes about the common property. On March 25, 1680, however, the beams of the old building, which had withstood renovations and attacks over the centuries, suddenly collapsed, causing the deaths of 22 of the young Jesuit school children. The deep grief shocked the citizens and the city itself, which in 1683 financed the reconstruction of the college in consultation with the Jesuits. The building in which the Mozzi Borgetti library is located today indeed clearly indicates its earlier monastic and school use: the strict facade, the massive and framed doors, the arrangement of the stairs and the unforeseen arrangement of the rooms refer to the Strictness of the religious order that owned the building for centuries.
Renovation and furnishing of the old halls
While for more than two centuries from the inauguration of the public library to the present day, despite the creation of new rooms and warehouses in the building, the Jesuits' educational study environment has remained essentially the same, the artistic value of the institute has increased significantly with the restructuring of the old halls.
The visual design of these rooms was entrusted to Vincenzo Martini from Macerata, who also took care of the most complex and important paintings. At the entrance of the three north-eastern rooms, which he painted himself, he placed a Latin inscription (" Studia Literarum / Adolescentiam Alunt / Senectutem Oblectant "), which clarified the importance of studying in adolescence, but also in the years of old age represented the pictorial path of the fresco painting of the three rooms. In the first two, Martini depicted the sun and dawn in the ceilings by copying from the famous "dawn" by the painter Guido Reni . In the third room he presented one of his ideas instead: Divine Wisdom, as the conclusion of a journey that shows visitors that the study of science and literature is the only way to dispel the darkness of ignorance and to attain true and heavenly wisdom . The Hebrew inscription in the hand of the angel, who is the main figure in the last fresco, is certainly unusual: although it is Hebrew, it contains the typically Christian message “real life begins after death” and thus relates to the resurrection. In the middle of this room was the wooden shelf by Romolo Cappelloni at the end of the 19th century, which was decorated with the coat of arms of Macerata between two horns of plenty.
Other important details that underline Bartolomeo Mozzi's educational program and the entire institute are the sixteen medallions that Martini himself painted and placed on the wooden pilasters of the Hall of Mirrors or the Galleria Traversa, which represent scientists and philosophers. It is extremely strange that among them there are uncomfortable figures for the Church such as Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton , whose ideas were then considered dangerous and harmful. Domenico Cervini and Domenico Marzapani worked with Martini to complete the decoration of the gallery, imitating the grotesques that Raphael used in the loggias of the Vatican. Another decoration was made by Giuseppe Ciferri, who carved a golden frieze with the coats of arms of Pius VI, Cardinal Pallotta and the community of Macerata, the three people who are considered to be the historical authors of the Mozzi Borgetti library.
Ciccolini Foundation
The already splendid old rooms were further embellished by the furnishings donated to the library by the Marquesa Irene Costa Ciccolini in 1956, including two imposing four-color bronze candelabra with a dark and partially gilded patina and, above all, a magnificent shelf clock. This valuable piece of furniture was made by Napoleon III. given to the Vicomtesse Ortensia di Casa Bianca di Avignone on the occasion of her wedding to the Marquese Claudio Ciccolini.
Aldo Adversi, director of the library until 1987, was the first to attribute this prestigious guarniture de cheminée to the French goldsmith Philippe Thomire, who probably received the commission from Napoleon Bonaparte himself in 1805 . This Napoleonic clock is also known as the Macerata clock with the chariot of the seasons because of its strong allegorical meaning and its constant reference to the unstoppable passage of time. There is a pair of lions representing a couple in love, a winged cupid who takes time with them, and the personifications of the four seasons. Spring is sitting on a golden carriage, a young girl with a flowery garland on her head; summer, a young woman carrying a bundle of ears of wheat; autumn, depicted as Bacchus in a twisted pose, who is happy about apples and grapes, and finally winter, as an old bearded man who must have a warmer with him. The valuable exhibit is on a base made of old green marble, on the sides of which the twelve signs of the zodiac are affixed in gilded bronze.
The other halls
The nave on the south side of the old rooms of the library consists of five rooms, which are generally narrower and "more uncomfortable" than the three rooms of the north aisle. When the library was renovated and equipped after its inauguration, the south aisle was not yet a building of the library and was rather used as a depot. However, the considerable donations received forced the curators to use additional rooms in order to preserve the library's book inventory as best as possible. The new rooms of the library were furnished and inaugurated between 1837 and 1839, whereby the partition that separated and prevented access to the hall of mirrors was broken through. The peculiarity of these rooms and the obvious difference from the other rooms is that they were not decorated with frescoes and retained the strict monastery layout of the Jesuit college, as they were in no way affected by the numerous redesigns, including the entire building over the centuries suffered. The lack of decorative picture elements and the rigid and narrow arrangement of the furnishings and filing cabinets create a suggestive effect in the rooms, which certainly differs from the fascination of the other rooms, but is still important in order to feel the harsh climate that the Jesuit students live in previous centuries in these rooms. Only in the first few years of the 20th century, after a general reform of the library system, were these rooms reorganized with additional funds and donations. The precious legacy of the art historian Amico Ricci , including his complete collection of manuscripts, numerous volumes of great artistic interest and his wonderful historical-archaeological library, is fully preserved in the room dedicated to him; the 7th room, on the other hand, was dedicated to Domenico Silverj, an important 19th century musician from the Marche region and known as the first mayor of Tolentino , and it contains works on music and musicians, dramaturgy and theater. Rooms 9 and 10 are currently the gifts of the historian of Italian literature Giulio Natali and the numerous volumes on the history of the Risorgimento by the brothers Giovanni and Domenico Spadoni, which complement an already extensive collection of volumes on the Risorgimento and enable the library to to create a real themed space. The last room in the south wing holds more than 1,500 manuscripts, correspondence and incunabula of inestimable value, which once again gives this library its deep historical and cultural value.
In the entrance area at the Piazza Vittorio Veneto there are the busts of Benedetto Cairoli, Ercole Rosa and Pope Gregory XVI. by Fedele Bianchini. The numerous stone coats of arms come from the ancient Fonte Maggiore. The archaeological collection of the Musei Civici includes the grooved sarcophagus of the atrium and the large Roman dolium from the Republican era at the entrance to the Sala Castiglioni.
Central or middle gallery
Clock detail
Clock detail
Clock detail
2nd room
2nd room
Napoleonic candelabra
Collections
With currently around 400,000 volumes, the library is one of the largest in the region. 10,000 manuscripts, a little more than 300 incunabula and over 4,000 editions from the 16th century are of particular value and interest. In addition to works of local historical interest, the printed collections also include legal, philosophical, scientific and medical editions from the 17th and 18th centuries. It also has a musical and theatrical collection of manuscripts, including the cathedral chapel archive, which contains hundreds of brochures, posters and printed pieces of music. Important historical collections of the Risorgimento were collected and donated by the brothers Giovanni and Domenico Spadoni. There is also an extensive photo library with around 37,000 images, more than 56,000 glass plates that are being reorganized, and a collection of drawings and prints.
All old and valuable collections are cataloged and accessible. The library is part of the city's library center and participates in the SBN ( Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale ) project by cataloging newly acquired works on the computer network. In April 2006, post-processing of the previous book inventory also began in the online catalog, which has so far enabled more than 74,000 volumes to be included. A considerable part (approx. 2,000 pieces) of the photos in the Balelli collection is also cataloged in Opac. These photos can thus be searched for subject areas and displayed in the online catalog. The alphabetical author catalog, the index cards in international format, the alphabetical subject catalog and separate special catalogs are available to the public. Mario Bevilacqua and Aldo Adversi have published printed inventories of the incunabula and manuscripts
Of particular historical interest is the Radiciotti-Spadoni collection, which contains biographical data, handwritten letters and files from over 1,200 musicians from the Marche region, the result of over 40 years of work by the musicologist Giuseppe Radiciotti. Having achieved some fame in the musical field with the extensive biography of Gioacchino Rossini , he decided to dedicate the fruits of his research to the dissemination of the names, life and musical works of a large number of musicians from the Marche region, who, with good reason, are remembered as greats like Rossini, Spontini or Pergolesi . In 1888 he began a careful study of city archives and handwritten letters, but, given the difficulty of finding a publisher, left the Marche Musicians' Lexicon unfinished. After his death, thanks to the will of his only surviving daughter, the huge collection of materials for the lexicon was donated to the Mozzi Borgetti Library, where the then curator and friend of Radiciotti, Giovanni Spadoni, had the task of completing this important work, which in the end even expanded to over 1,500 biographies of musicians from the brands, all of which have been cataloged and sorted in alphabetical order.
Chronicle of the Librarians
- Bartolomeo Mozzi, from 1784 to 1786;
- Domenico Troili, from 1786 to 1797;
- Abate prof. Giuseppe Montecchiari, from 1797 to 1835;
- Tommaso Borgetti, from 1835 to 1855;
- Francesco Rutili, from 1855 to 1863;
- Matteo Ricci Petrocchini , from 1863 to 1896;
- Giovanni Spadoni, from 1925 to 1940;
- Amedeo Ricci, from 1940 to 1964;
- Aldo Adversi, from 1964 to 1987;
- Alessandra Sfrappini, from 1987 to 2018.
Projects
Since 2013 the Mozzi-Borgetti library has been part of the regional project “Leggere è familiare”, together with other institutions, with the support of Nati per Leggere , a national program to promote reading for families with preschool children, and Nati per la Musica , a national program launched in 2006 Program to promote the musical experience in the family. Emphasis is placed on both the cognitive value, which will benefit the child throughout their life, and communication, which promotes and intensifies the relationships between children and parents.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anagrafe delle Biblioteche Italiane ( it ) ICCU.
- ↑ NPL Macerata ( it ) Comune Macerata.
- ^ Matteo Ricci Petrocchini. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI).
- ^ Giovanni Spadoni ( it ) ib.it.
- ↑ Amedeo Ricci ( it ) ib.it.
- ↑ Per Natale libri in dono ai bambini dei nidi comunali ( it ) Comune Macerata.
- ↑ Nati per Leggere ( it )
- ↑ Nati per la Musica ( it )
literature
- Pio Catechini, Giuseppe Cruciani, Fabozzi and Alessandra Sfrappini: La Biblioteca Mozzi-Borgetti di Macerata, introduzione di Giovanni Solimine . Editalia, Rome 1993, ISBN 88-7060-267-2 (Italian).
- Mauro Mei, Alessandra Sfrappini: Collectio Thesauri: dalle Marche tesori nascosti di un collezionismo illustrious . Ed .: Regione Marche. Edifir, Florence 2005, ISBN 88-7970-225-4 (Italian).
- Angela Montironi: Nel segno di Napoleone. Ville e dimore marchigiane tra Settecento e Ottocento . Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, Macerata 2002 (Italian).
- Aldo Adversi: Studi sulla Biblioteca Comunale e sui tipografi di Macerata, introduzione di Dante Cecchi . Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Macerata, Macerata 1966 (Italian).
- Valentina Zega, Roberta Selva: Sul ritorno a Macerata della Biblioteca privata di Maffeo Pantaleoni., Introduzioni di Giorgio Meschini, Valerio Calzolaio, Roberto Massi Gentiloni Silverj e Alessandra Sfrappini . Ed .: Comune di Macerata. Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Macerata, Macerata 1998 (Italian).
- Carlo Capotosti, Alfonso Menchini: Per la storia della Biblioteca comunale Mozzi-Borgetti di Macerata: notizie e documenti. Unione Cattolica Tipografica, Macerata 1905, ISBN 1-274-11435-7 (Italian).
- Giovanni Spadoni: La Biblioteca comunale "Mozzi-Borgetti" di Macerata: relazione storico bibliografica con illustrazioni fuori testo per celebrare il CL anniversario della inaugurazione della Biblioteca . Unione Tipografica Operaia, Macerata 1937 (Italian).
