The Classense Library is a historic library located in the city of Ravenna. Since 2002, it has been managed by a specially established institution
The name refers to Sant'Apollinare in Classe, a basilica with an adjoining monastery of the Congregation of the Camaldolese located 5 km south-east of the city.
In 1512 the fighting of the Battle of Ravenna closely threatened the life of the monks. They therefore decided to move to the city of Ravenna, which was then protected by a wall. In the current Via Baccarini, where they had properties, they built the new Classense Abbey (starting from 1513) above the previous Polenta hospital of Santa Maria della Misericordia.
Inside, the monks transferred their manuscripts. In the 17th century, Abbot Marino Bonetti († 1664) promoted a first collection of printed volumes. In the 18th century, the abbot Pietro Canneti (1704-1714) enriched the monastic library with very precious codes and incunabula by founding the "Libreria dei Camaldolesi".
From 1803, the date of the Napoleonic suppression of ecclesiastical assets belonging to various religious orders, the Camaldolese monks and other religious of the city's abbeys and convents had to merge their book collections into what became the newly created Civic Library of Ravenna, later renamed the Classense Library.
Today, codes and incunabula in special collections are still preserved inside the library, together with rare manuscripts and books, ancient maps, engravings, vintage photographs. They are accompanied by a heritage made up of modern and contemporary books. The total estimated patrimony amounts to about 850,000 volumes, and is considered among the main ones in Italy. Among the main collections in the library we can mention: the Corrado Ricci Fund which includes volumes, papers, correspondence, photographs and graphics; the Luigi Rava Fund which includes the library, the Risorgimento correspondence, the working papers and the private correspondence; the Leone Vicchi Fund consisting of a collection of printed works by Vincenzo Monti and critical essays on Monti which is joined by a collection of handwritten papers by Cesare Ubaldini; the Manara Valgimigli Fund consisting of the personal and working library of Valgimigli which is joined by a correspondence of about 6000 pieces and the photographic collection; the Tommaso Bertelè collection (1892-1971) consisting of about 8500 printed volumes, the Mario Mazzotti collection consisting of the library and the working papers of the Ravenna archaeologist and scholar, which is joined by a large photographic collection. In recent years, the Eurialo De Michelis Fund, the Lucio Gambi Fund which includes the library, working papers and a large section of cartography, the Marino Berengo Fund and the Carlo Ferdinando Russo Fund have been donated to the library.
The library also manages two museum collections: the "Museum of the Risorgimento" and the "Dante Museum". Inside the library there is also the Ravenna Municipal Historical Archive, officially established in 1913 with director Silvio Bernicoli. The documentation of the Archive covers ten centuries (from the tenth to the twentieth century) and includes the volumes of chancellery, secretariat, accounting, depository, land registry and census of the Community of Ravenna, the collection of ancient parchments, the collection of notices and topographical maps . To these series are added the administrative correspondence and the acts of the Council and Council from 1796 to 1973. The Lovatelli Fund, the Gamba Fund, the Rasponi Testi Fund, the Molino di San Mamante Fund, the Fund are deposited in the Municipal Historical Archive. Bernicoli and the Photographic Fund Trapani.
Since January 2011, the multimedia library section (which houses DVDs, CDs and videotapes) has been moved from via Guido da Polenta to the main office of the library, inaugurating a complete renovation of the modern books section. The newspaper library (which houses newspapers and magazines) is still in via Guido da Polenta, 4 next to the other main library in Ravenna, the Oriani Library.
President of the Classense Library Institution is Patrizia Ravagli, from 23 March 2017 director of the library is Maurizio Tarantino [
Classense Library Institution
Address: Via Alfredo Baccarini, 3, 48121
Phone: 0543 722222
Site:
http://www.sansavini.it/touroperator.htmlLocation inserted by
Massimo Sansavini