The Biblioteca Riccardiana (''Riccardian Library'') is a library in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The library is located adjacent to the

Palazzo Medici Riccardi The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi after the later family that acquired and expanded it, is a Renaissance palace located in Florence, Italy. It is the seat of the Metropolitan City of Florence and a museum. Overview ...

. The main facade of Michelozzo's Medici Riccardi palace is on Via Camillo Cavour (corner of Via de' Gori), while Riccardiana library's main but unimposing entrance and facade is located on Via de' Ginori, parallel and northeast of Cavour. The rear of the Medici palace has a small polygonal private garden, whose north side also has an entrance to the library.

History

The library was established in 1600 by Riccardo Romolo Riccardi, of the prominent Riccardi family, who himself had scholarly interests. In 1659, Gabriello and his nephew Francesco Riccardi purchased the Medici palace by Michelozzo, now renamed Medici Riccardi Palace. For the next three decades, they employed prominent architects/artists such as Tacca,

Pier Maria Baldi Pier Maria Baldi (circa 1630 - 9 November 1686) was an Italian painter and architect. Biography Born around 1630 in Florence, Pier Maria Baldi trained under Baldassare Franceschini, known as ''il Volterrano''. He worked along with fellow pupil C ...

, and

Giovanni Battista Foggini Giovanni Battista (Giambattista) Foggini (25 April 1652 – 12 April 1725) was an Italian sculptor active in Florence, renowned mainly for small bronze statuary. Biography Born in Florence, the young Foggini was sent to Rome by the Medici Gra ...

in decorating and restructuring the palace. In 1682–1685, Giordano was employed to fresco ceilings of the library with allegories designed by Alessandro Segni. Francesco was central in beginning to organize the extensive collections of artefacts, including Byzantine ivory, jewelry, medals and coins that had been accumulated by the family. Francesco also enlarged the book acquisitions of the library. The armoires to display these collections were decorated with paintings by

Anton Domenico Gabbiani Anton Domenico Gabbiani (13 February 1652 – 22 November 1726) was an Italian painter and active in a late Baroque style. Biography Born in Florence, Gabbiani first apprenticed with the Medici court portrait painter Justus Sustermans, then ...

Bartolomeo Bimbi left, 180px, citrus.html"_;"title="Medici_citrus">Medici_citrus_collection,_1715 Bartolomeo_Bimbi_(15_May_1648_–_1729)_was_a_Florence.html" ;"title="citrus_collection,_1715.html" ;"title="citrus.html" ;"title="Medici citrus">Medici citrus c ...

, and

Pandolfo Reschi Pandolfo Reschi (1643–1699) was a painter who was born at Danzig (now Gdańsk) and active in Italy. He moved to Italy when he was young, and became one of the ablest pupils of Giacomo Borgognone. He painted battle-pieces and imitated the la ...

. In 1691, Tommaso and Giuseppe Nasini painted the frescoes depicting the history of Hercules and Jove for a display and catalogue room. The marriage in 1669 of Francesco to Cassandra Capponi, enlarged substantially the holding of the library, since she had inherited a large collection of books from her father, Vincenzio Capponi, who had befriended

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

and his followers, thus acquiring some of the scientific manuscripts. In the 18th century, the marchese Gabriello Riccardi (1705-1798) added and reorganized the library to its present state. A subdeacon in the church, he added collections of religious manuscripts. He purchased in 1742, a large trove of documents of Giovanni Battista Fagiuoli (1660-1742). In 1748 he added ancient codexes from a monastery. He bought the library of Giovanni Battista Doni (937 manuscripts), and collections of family documents belonging to the Strozzi, Davanzati, Salvini, Quaratesi, De Ricci families of Florence. He bought manuscripts and letters of

Giovanni Lami Giovanni Lami (8 November 1697 – 6 February 1770) was an Italian jurist, church historian, and antiquarian. Biography He was born at Santa Croce sull'Arno (between Pisa and Florence) into a relatively affluent family; his paternal family ...

including his correspondence with abbot Lorenzo Mehus (1716-1802), the son of the artist

Livio Mehus Lieven Mehus or Livio Mehus (1630, in Oudenaarde – 7 August 1691, in Florence) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver of the Baroque period, who trained and worked in Italy. He was mainly active in Florence where he ...

. He bought much of the library of Anton Maria Salvini, Nicodemo Tranchedini, and received a donation of works belonging to Benedetto and Giuseppe Averani. The collection began expanding into some of the private apartments of the palace. Foggini's marble portrait of Vicenzio is in the main reading room. Upon Gabriello's death in 1794, he willed that the library and museum be open to the public though mediated through a curator or librarian. However, in the turbulent first decades of the 19th century, the family came to bankruptcy and much of the artwork and artefacts were sold at auction during 1811–1814. In 1825 the Granducal authorities intervened to prevent the dispersal of the library and it was converted to a public library, with it first librarian Francesco Fontani. It has maintained some autonomy from the other prominent libraries in Florence: the Marucelliana, the biblioteca Nazionale, and the Laurenziana. Presently the library is administered by the

Accademia della Crusca The Accademia della Crusca (; "Academy of the Bran"), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian langu ...

Manuscripts

Various catalogues of manuscript collections have been made, including an annotated one in 1756 by the librarian

. In 1900, another catalog was published by Salomone Morpurgo (1860 – 1942), until 1898 librarian of the Riccardiana.I manoscritti della R. Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze
by S. Morpurgo, Tipografia Giachetti, Prato, 1900. The library holds a copy of Pliny's ''Historia naturalis'' dating from the 10th century and an autograph manuscript of the ''

Florentine Histories ''Florentine Histories'' ( it, Istorie fiorentine) is a historical account by Italian Renaissance political philosopher and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, first published posthumously in 1532. Background After the crisis of 1513, with arrests for ...

'' of

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

. Also in the library are housed the biblical manuscripts:

Minuscule 368 Minuscule 368 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 531 and α 1501 ( Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on paper. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 15th century. It contains non-biblical matter. Descr ...

369 __NOTOC__ Year 369 ( CCCLXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Galates and Victor (or, less frequently, year 1122 ' ...

, and

370 __NOTOC__ Year 370 ( CCCLXX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Valens (or, less frequently, year 1123 ''Ab ...

Gallery

Image:Biblioteca Riccardiana, Luca Giordano, affreschi.JPG, Fresco of Luca Giordano depicting ''Allegory of Wisdom'' Image:Biblioteca Riccardiana, altri affreschi.JPG, Other fresco

References

External links

Biblioteca Riccardiana Firenze
official website

at the ''Institute and Museum of the History of Science''
Manoscritti della Biblioteca Riccardiana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riccardiana, Biblioteca Libraries in Florence Culture in Florence World Digital Library partners Palazzo Medici Riccardi National libraries in Italy 1600 establishments in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany 1600 establishments in Italy Buildings and structures completed in 1600 Libraries established in 1600

History

Manuscripts

Gallery

Further reading

References

External links