The Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati is the public library located at #3 of the

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, Italy.

History

The library's origins date to 1758, when the archdeacon and local economist

Sallustio Bandini Sallustio Bandini (19 April 1677 – 8 June 1760) was an Italian archdeacon, economist, and politician. He was an advocate of free trade, and removal of local feudal tariffs and tolls. He wrote an influential piece on this subject, titled ''Discor ...

donated his library to the

University of Siena The University of Siena ( it, Università degli Studi di Siena, abbreviation: UNISI) in Siena, Tuscany, is one of the oldest and first publicly funded universities in Italy. Originally called ''Studium Senese'', the institution was founded in 1240 ...

, on the condition that it grant public access. The university at this time lacked a formal library. In 1774, the library already included 13,000 objects. In 1798 an earthquake closed the library; it soon reopened but was closed by the French in 1808, along with the University of Siena. The library was restarted by the commune in 1810, and amassed further manuscripts from the suppressed convent of Sant'Agostino. The collection over the centuries has been greatly enhanced by additional donors, including the manuscripts and designs owned by Giuseppe Ciaccheri (1724-1804), pupil of Bandini, and the first librarian of the collection. In 1786 the library received works housed in the

Santa Maria della Scala (Siena) Santa Maria della Scala (also referred to as the Hospital, Ospedale, and Spedale) is located in Siena, Italy. Now a museum, it was once an important civic hospital dedicated to caring for abandoned children, the poor, the sick, and pilgrims. Reven ...

, among them the precious Byzantine lectionary Gospels (designated by ℓ ''283'' on the list Gregory-Aland) already part of the treasure of the same institution (X. IV. 1). In 1866, the editor Giuseppe Porri left to the library his collection of stamps, signatures, coins, medals and signature seals. In 1932 the podestà of Siena, Fabio Bargagli Petrucci, became the administrator and added his collection of public documents, christening it with the name "Intronati", in memory of the Accademia degli Intronati of the 18th century. Atop the entrance to the Historical Reading room of the library is a plaque with the six statutes of the old Accademia in Latin: # ''Deum colere'' (Revere God) # ''Studere'' (Study) # ''Gaudere'' (Rejoice) # ''Neminem lædere'' (Damage nobody) # ''Nemini credere'' (Believe nobody) # ''De mundo non curare'' (Worry not about the world). In the 1990s reconstruction led to designation of a specific hall. Some material of the ''Museo archeologico nazionale'' was transferred to the former monastery adjacent to

Santa Maria della Scala Santa Maria della Scala (English: Mary of the Staircase) is a titular church in Rome, Italy, located in the Trastevere rione. Cardinal Ernest Simoni took possession of the titular church on 11 February 2017. Santa Maria della Scala is a titular ...

Collection

In 1935 the collection of the library was estimated at 120,000 volumes, 86,000 brochures, 820 incunabula, 5,226 manuscripts, 20,000 autographs, and stamps. Currently, the library's collection of printed books and manuscripts is estimated at over half a million units. The archive of the library is divided in twenty-nine series.Biblioteca Comunale Degli Intronati
/ref> Special value have documents from the time of Renaissance and Reformation. Among the collections are: *

Giuliano da Sangallo Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1445 – 1516) was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for being the favored architect of Lorenzo de' Medici, his patron. In this role, Giulia ...

’s Sienese (ms. S. IV. 8) drawings and manuscripts made by the hand of Antonio di Pietro Averlino called

Filarete Antonio di Pietro Aver(u)lino (; – ), known as Filarete (; from grc, φιλάρετος, meaning "lover of excellence"), was a Florentine Renaissance architect, sculptor, medallist, and architectural theorist. He is perhaps best remembered for ...

(''Trattato di architettura civile'', ms. L. V. 9) *

Francesco di Giorgio Martini Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439–1501) was an Italian architect, engineer, painter, sculptor, and writer. As a painter, he belonged to the Sienese School. He was considered a visionary architectural theorist—in Nikolaus Pevsner's terms: ...

(''Trattato d’architettura civile e militare'', ms. S. IV. 4, and others) Notebooks with architectural and military designs * Drawings and designs by

Baldassarre Peruzzi Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (7 March 1481 – 6 January 1536) was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena (in Ancaiano, ''frazione'' of Sovicille) and died in Rome. He worked for many years with Bramante, Raphael, and lat ...

and his school (the so-called Taccuino senese di Baldassarre Peruzzi, ms. S. IV. 7, and others) * Drawings and designs by Beccafumi *

Saint Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena (Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church. ...

's ''Spiritual Document'' (letter) (T. II. F - cc. 29-30) *

Luca Landucci Luca Landucci (1436–1516) was an Italian apothecary from Florence, best known as the writer of a diary which later became an important primary source about the history of Florence. The older of two sons of a prosperous citizen of Florence, Landu ...

's diaryAmelang, James S. ''The flight of Icarus'', Stanford University Press, p. 307. * Papyrus document from Ravenna (7th century) * Epistles of St Paul (11th-century) in Latin * Quinto Curzio (15th-century) * Roman Missal of Pope

Enea Silvio Piccolomini Pope Pius II ( la, Pius PP. II, it, Pio II), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini ( la, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus, links=no; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August ...

(1456) * Pontificale romano with French illumination added (15th-century) * Monte Santo di Dio (15th-century

incunabolo In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

) * Divine Comedy, incunabulum with illustrations designed by

Sandro Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), known as Sandro Botticelli (, ), was an Italian Renaissance painting, Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th cent ...

(1481) * Illuminated

Antiphonary An antiphonary or antiphonal is one of the liturgical books intended for use (i.e. in the liturgical choir), and originally characterized, as its name implies, by the assignment to it principally of the antiphons used in various parts of the ...

Giovanni di Paolo Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia (''c.'' 1403–1482) was an Italian painter, working primarily in Siena, becoming a prolific painter and illustrator of manuscripts, including Dante's texts. He was one of the most important painters of the 15th cent ...

* Franciscan

Breviary A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such a ...

(15th-century) illuminated by

Sano di Pietro Sano di Pietro or Ansano di Pietro di Mencio (1405–1481) was an Italian painter of the Sienese school of painting. He was active for about half a century during the Quattrocento period, and his contemporaries included Giovanni di Paolo and Sas ...

* Libro d'ore fiorentino miniato da Filippo de' Corbizzi (1494) * Bust of Federigo Tozzi, by Ercole Drei on reading room.

References

Bibliography

External links

Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati
Istituzione del Comune di Siena
Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati
at the European Architectural History Network {{Authority control Comunale Buildings and structures in Siena 1758 establishments in Italy