The creation of the Collegio Alberoni Library took place at a time when popes and cardinals had begun to establish large collections of books as a means of supporting studies. In 1609, Cardinal Federico Borromeo inaugurated the Ambrosiana in Milan. Other important libraries followed. The Palatina Library in Parma and the Braidense Library in Milan were established in the same years as the Alberoni Library.
The library
Alberoni wanted to locate the library on the first floor, in the western corridor, near two other important rooms: the hall for public functions, currently the missionaries’ recreation room, and the Chapel of the Ordinands, later incorporated into the library under the name of the Pius XI Room.
The initial collection of books sent from Ravenna at the end of 1739 was joined by almost two thousand volumes from the library of Cardinal Giacomo Lanfredini Amadori, which Alberoni purchased for the College in 1742. Over time, many other purchases and donations followed, reaching a total of 1,000 volumes today, mainly on philosophy and theology.
The scientific sector is also of great importance. The library contains the research of Spallanzani, Bernoulli, Volta and the proceedings of the major scientific academies of the time.
There is a copy of Galileo Galilei’s Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari e loro accidenti (History and Demonstrations Concerning Sunspots and Their Accidents).
Numerous incunabula and sixteenth-century books are preserved. Among the former, the oldest is Eutropius’ Historia romana.
Worth mentioning are the volumes of the polyglot Bible printed in Antwerp by the famous Plantin printing house and the ten volumes of the Works of St. Jerome in Froben’s Basel edition.
There are also the Acts and Decrees of the Council of Trent.
The library has many valuable collections of atlases and works of a scientific, artistic and historical nature, as well as bibliographic works.
Also worth mentioning is the famous Herbarium, one of the most important relics of the Alberoni College, especially for the historical and scientific value of its contents.
