The new library of the Senate of the Italian Republic

Abstract

On 19th June 2003, the Library of the Senate of the Italian Republic has been inaugurated in its new building, in Piazza della Minerva. After one hundred and thirty years, the Library moved from palazzo Madama and opened to the public in order to offer new services and facilities, but preserving its cultural identity. Historically, the book acquisition has been strictly linked to the cultural interests of the Senators of the Italian Kingdom, who, in most cases, were intellectuals: Italian history, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Literature. After the coming of the Republic, the Library has emphasized the doubleness of its nature, parliamentary and historical-jurisprudential. Its unique patrimony (more than 600.000 volumes) and the opportunity to offer it to scholars and to whomever could be interested in, have determined the moving to the new building, firstly promoted by Giovanni Spadolini. The restoration of this building, extremely compelling on a structural level, has taken more than ten years; now the Library can offer a wide range of specialized facilities: information rooms, Social Science room, Italian History room, Law History room, newspaper and periodical room, the exposition of more than nine hundred journals and magazines, a conference room and even some contemporary art works. The Library has its own web site, rich in information and links to other specialized web sites, and one is working to realize a functional integration, already started, with the Library of the Camera dei Deputati.