The Biblioteca Oliveriana is a public library located in the Palazzo Almerici on via Mazza in the town of

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

, region of

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

, Italy.

History

In 1756,

Annibale degli Abati Olivieri Annibale degli Abati Olivieri (17 June 1708 – 29 September 1789) was an Italian archaeologist, numismatist and librarian, considered the founder of the Biblioteca Oliveriana, Pesaro. An aristocrat without heirs, he was the author of works of arc ...

(1708–1789), an aristocrat without heirs, donated his collection of antiquities, including medals and ancient coins, and his book collection to the city, to form the nucleus of the present Oliveriana Library. In 1787, the collection was enhanced by the collections of

Giovanni Battista Passeri Giovanni Battista Passeri (c. 1610 – 22 April 1679) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was a pupil of the painter Domenichino, as the latter worked at Frascati. He painted genre and still life paintings. Life Born in Rome, Pas ...

(1694–1780). The library and the adjacent archaeological museum (see Museo Oliveriano entry) had their first accommodation in Piazzetta San Giacomo (today Piazza Olivieri) on the ground floor of the eighteenth-century Palazzo Olivieri, designed by the architect and painter

Giovanni Andrea Lazzarini Giovanni Andrea Lazzarini (19 November 1710 – 7 September 1801) was an Italian painter, poet, and art historian of the late- Baroque or Rococo. He was born at Pesaro. He was instructed in painting by Francesco Mancini, and studied at Rom ...

; the library was inaugurated on May 2, 1793. On July 31, 1892, the collections were moved to their present location in the Palazzo Almerici. The three reading rooms are respectively called Olivieri, Passeri, and Perticari. The first houses the white Carrara marble bust of Olivieri, sculpted by Sebastian Pantanelli in 1791–92; the second houses a portrait of the archaeologist Passeri; and the third houses part of the library of the illustrious scholar and linguist Giulio Perticari (1779–1822). In his will, Olivieri stated:

Where reigns idleness and ignorance there can be no morality. May it therefore be that the income you will derive from my goods will serve to make my fellow citizens cultivated and industrious.

Furthermore, he wished that the foundation lead to the provision in Pesaro of "Masters of Science, chosen in accordance to the times and agreeable to the needs, the abilities, and inclinations of citizens ... without giving these chairs to a specific religious community" and that the directors "consider specially the study of Law and Medicine ... and promote the study of painting, sculpture and architecture" and "introduce into Pesaro any new art". The library contains over 400

incunabula 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 ...

, including the ''

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili'' (; ), called in English ''Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream'' or ''The Dream of Poliphilus'', is a book said to be by Francesco Colonna. It is a famous example of an incunable (a work of early printing). The wor ...

'' printed by

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; it, Aldo Pio Manuzio; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preserv ...

in 1499 in Venice and the ''Varia carmina'' by

Sebastian Brant Sebastian Brant (also Brandt) (1458 – 10 May 1521) was a German humanist and satirist. He is best known for his satire '' Das Narrenschiff'' (''The Ship of Fools''). Biography Brant was born in Strasbourg to an innkeeper but eventually enter ...

printed by Johann Bergmann in 1498 in Basel. A full catalogue is available.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliveriana Infrastructure completed in 1791 Libraries in Pesaro