Library of the Giorgio Cini Foundation

The library of the Giorgio Cini Foundation (the Fondazione Giorgio Cini ) is located in the former dormitory of the Benedictines on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the historic center of Venice . Designed by Giovanni Buora and remodeled under the direction of Michele De Lucchi , the institution has set itself the goal of promoting open and multidisciplinary access, which in many cases also refers to the holdings of other archives and libraries. The library comprises six departments, which are themselves described as biblioteche .

Departments

The main room, known as Nuova Manica Lunga , forms the core of the Centro Internazionale di Studi della Civiltà Italiana “Vittore Branca” . In terms of content, more than 150,000 volumes deal with art history alone. There are also around 800 periodicals, of which more than 200 are ongoing. The holdings also deal with the history of Venice, literature, music and theater, melodrama, and then with Venice's relations with the Orient and Europe. There are also over 3,000 incunabula and early prints. 1,000 meters of shelving alone are directly accessible.

The core of the art history collections are specialized collections that can be traced back to Giuseppe Fiocco, Rodolfo Gallo, Raymond van Marle, Antonio Muñoz and Achille Bertini Calosso. There are also foundations from book lovers, such as Tammaro De Marinis, a friend of Vittorio Cinis , who also advised the founder on the acquisitions.

On the history of the Republic of Venice in particular , i.e. the period up to 1797, but also of its colonies and the areas affected by their activities, the store in the Storia della Società e dello Stato Veneziano department keeps more than 120 periodicals. Numerous sources from the Venice State Archives are available here as microfilms , but also collections from other archives relating to Venice.

The Istituto per il Teatro e il Melodramma has its own library with a corresponding focus. The private libraries of Gian Francesco Malipiero, Ulderico Rolandi, Francesco Gallia, Aurel M. Milloss, Luigi Squarzina and Pierluigi Samaritani are also located there. In the library of the musician Gian Francesco Malipiero there are rare Cinquecentine (16th century) and other rare books, in that of Francesco Gallia there are around 1,200 volumes with Wagnerian collection. On the other hand, the choreographer Aurel M. Milloss has 3,000 volumes that deal with dance and its history. The more recent foundations include the collections of the set designer Pierluigi Samaritani and those of the director and professor Luigi Squarzina. These theater and melodrama collections can only be consulted through the Biblioteca Manica Lunga .

The library Civiltà e spiritualità comparate deals with the relationship between Venice and the Orient , in a very broad sense, namely reaching as far as Japan and with Eastern Europe . They were created in 1958 and contain 36,000 volumes. In terms of microfilms, the rare books in the Imperial Library in Beijing should be highlighted. In 1971 Alain Daniélou's private library was added, which is particularly important for Indian music . About 300 magazines, often represented in just a few issues, go back to the personal focus of the donors. In 2012 the foundation acquired the private library of the journalist and writer Tiziano Terzani . It includes around 6,000 volumes on art and cultural history, but also travel reports. These fit perfectly into the existing holdings of the oriental section of the Centro Studi di Civiltà e Spiritualità Comparate , the former institutes Venezia e l'Oriente and Venezia e l'Europa .

The Archivi Musica contains collections from composers and personalities of Italian music who were active between the late 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

One of the most important holdings is the approximately 3,000 units of the Libri Antichi . The starting point was the donation from the founder of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, who kept books from the 15th and 16th centuries in his house. There were also the collections of Victor Masséna and those of the bibliophile Tammaro De Marinis. Other donors included a. Antonio Muñoz, Alessandro Dudan or the Milanese lawyer Cesare Grassetti.

Web links

• Website of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini (Italian and English)

Coordinates: 45 ° 25 ′ 45 ″  N , 12 ° 20 ′ 36 ″  E