Emanuele Casamassima, the flood administration and the Italian libraries renewal

Abstract

The article tells about the Emanuele Casamassima administration of the Florence Central National Library after the 4th November 1966. It is particularly considered his action after the emergency and his renewal plan for the Library that concerned, besides the indispensable restoration of the books and the building damaged by the flood, many aspects and sectors of the Library. For each one Casamassima planned a double line of action of the re-enstablishment and of the restructuring, that could have been innovative outcomes for all Italian Libraries. Few projects were really started and especially because of the international cooperation and some aid Committee, while he uselessly attempted during all the 1967 to pass a "special law" for the Library contained the financial, technical and staff provisions necessary for a longer programming.
The many obstacles to his plan and some particular events determined the resignation of Casamassima as Director and then his leave from the libraries the 1st September 1970.