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. It shares the building with the Museo Oliveriano, an

archaeology museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological Types Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum. Others display artifacts inside buildings, such as Na ...

with which it shares a common history.

History

The idea of a public museum for these artifacts came from the scholar Giovanni Battista Passeri (1694-1780). 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 museum 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. In 1885 (or July 31, 1892), the various collections in possession of the city were brought to the present site.

Library

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.

Museum

Iscrizioni picene - Stele di Novilara - Museo archeologico nazionale delle Marche

The Museo Oliveriano has a collection of Greek bronze statuettes, Ancient Roman art and artifacts, including sculpture, ceramics and coins. It also has objects excavated from the 7-8 AC (pre-Roman) burial at the necropolis of Novilara. These include portions of

stelae A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

inscribed in the

North Picene language North Picene, also known as North Picenian or Northern Picene, is a supposed ancient language, which may have been spoken in part of central-eastern Italy. The evidence for the language consists of four inscriptions dating from the 1st millennium ...

, and one depicting a sea battle with a

Liburna A liburna was a type of small galley used for raiding and patrols. It was originally used by the Liburnians, a pirate tribe from Dalmatia, and later used by the Roman navy.. History A stone tablet (''Stele di Novilara'') found near ancient Pis ...

. The museum also has a bronze tabula fabrorum. It has artifacts from the sacred grove of Lucus Pisaurensis and the pre-Roman

Votive Stones of Pesaro The Ancient Votive Stones of Pesaro are 13 sandstone rocks that were unearthed in 1737 in a Pesaro, Italy farm field owned by Patrician Annibale degli Abati Olivieri. Oliverio dug up the stones at the site of his newly discovered Lucus Pisaurens ...

. The museum includes many Latin epitaphs. It also has a collection of post-Roman medallions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oliveriana Infrastructure completed in 1791 Libraries in Pesaro Libraries established in 1756