Municipal Library

Municipal Library

BIBLIOTECA COMUNALE
Via Francesco, 3, Rocca San Casciano
tel/fax: 0543.960124
e-mail: carlo.bombardi@comune.roccasancasciano.fc.it
Open by appointment

In 1749 Monsignor Gaetano Calvani, after resigning from the Diocese of Bertinoro, retired to the local Convent of the Franciscan Friars of Rocca San Casciano bringing with him his “famous library full of sacred, ecclesiastical and historical works”. Before his death he donated his collection to the Friars who had hosted him; thus the Franciscan Library was born.

The donation was undoubtedly well received so that they decided, as a sign of thanks, to allocate the library material in twelve valuable wooden shelves still present on site.

The good relationship between Calvani and the Friars is still witnessed by the carved wooden coat of arms – present at the bottom of the room – where the coat of arms of the first joins that of the second.

During the nineteenth century, following the suppression of the Franciscan Convent by Napoleon and then the Kingdom of Italy, the spaces of the Library of the Friars Minor were occupied by the Municipal Library; thus began a symbiosis that lasted for a long time.

In 1973 the Library became definitively Municipal Library whose management was entrusted to the librarian Anna Bardi with a fair frequency for consultations, studies and book lending.

Currently are here preserved about 3000 volumes many of which are published after the death of Calvani and carry on the back label “Biblioteca Comunale di Rocca S. Casciano” as proof of a certain mixture between the two realities.

Among the volumes present great historical importance is the sixteenth century. Originally the Library had 194 of which, to date, only 72 are still present at the premises of the Library as they were the subject, during the ‘900, of a confiscation by the Municipality of Rocca San Casciano. The remaining 125 are still kept at the Osservanza of Bologna following a donation made by Friars in 1971.

Among the oldest volumes stand out:

• “The Rhymes of Petrarch” by Salvadorini presumably composed between 1513 and 1526;
• “History of the Earthquake occurred at Rocca S. Casciano in 1661” by M. Di Castro printed in Faenza in 1664.

Since 2009, the Library has hosted numerous volumes dedicated to Romagna, part of the private collection of the journalist and writer Armando Ravaglioli. The latter, Rocchigiano of birth, donated to his death such material to the Municipality of Rocca San Casciano.

Finally, there is a sign that here is preserved the Flag donated by the Livornesi to the Rocchigiani following the election as deputy of the college of Rocca San Casciano, occurred in 1860, Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi. The flag, believed to have been lost for years, bears the following inscription: “To the Romagnoli who, by electing deputy F. D. Guerrazzi supported the cause of Democracy. I Livornesi the year MDCC – CLX”.

Credits: Author Avv. Elisa Rabiti