Description
The Ubaldo Mazzini Civic Library is the historic library of La Spezia, housed in Palazzo Crozza, on Corso Cavour. It holds rare books, manuscripts and papers on the history of the city and of Lunigiana.
The palace was the suburban residence of the Crozza family, designed by the architect Piaggio. A grand staircase in front of the entrance leads to the reading room, with a ceiling frescoed by Cesare Agretti and Annibale Brugnoli.
The collection amounts to about 142,000 volumes and pamphlets. The oldest core is the 49 incunabula and illuminated choir books, that is, books printed in the first decades of printing and large hand-decorated songbooks.
Next come almost a thousand sixteenth-century books, more than twelve hundred seventeenth-century ones and over four thousand eighteenth-century ones. Then there are the papers of the Municipal Historical Archive, 2,200 items from the late Middle Ages to the second half of the nineteenth century.
The library also holds bequests from scholars and collectors, among which that of Count Giovanni Sforza of Montignoso, historian and man of letters, stands out. It has a section of newspapers and magazines, maps and a digitized collection.
The story begins in 1835, when a society of citizens founded the Società d'incoraggiamento to support education in a still small La Spezia. From 1842 the books were kept on the ground floor of the Teatro Civico.
The collection grew with the manuscripts from the libraries of the convents suppressed in 1866. In 1898 the society handed management over to the city, and in 1906 the library moved to Palazzo Crozza. The move was directed by Ubaldo Mazzini, who was also the director and now gives the library its name.
In 1943, when the bombing of the La Spezia stronghold began, almost all the volumes were taken to the church of San Carlo in Borghetto Vara, in the Vara valley. It seemed a safe place.
The war arrived right there and the storeroom was destroyed. The books that were recovered were damaged and some were lost. After the war the collection was restored and put back in order.
Until 1984 the palace also housed the collections of the Civic Archaeological Museum, later moved to Castello San Giorgio, and it was restored in 2001. Since that restoration the reading room has lamps on the desks, for those who study.
The palace was the suburban residence of the Crozza family, designed by the architect Piaggio. A grand staircase in front of the entrance leads to the reading room, with a ceiling frescoed by Cesare Agretti and Annibale Brugnoli.
The collection amounts to about 142,000 volumes and pamphlets. The oldest core is the 49 incunabula and illuminated choir books, that is, books printed in the first decades of printing and large hand-decorated songbooks.
Next come almost a thousand sixteenth-century books, more than twelve hundred seventeenth-century ones and over four thousand eighteenth-century ones. Then there are the papers of the Municipal Historical Archive, 2,200 items from the late Middle Ages to the second half of the nineteenth century.
The library also holds bequests from scholars and collectors, among which that of Count Giovanni Sforza of Montignoso, historian and man of letters, stands out. It has a section of newspapers and magazines, maps and a digitized collection.
The story begins in 1835, when a society of citizens founded the Società d'incoraggiamento to support education in a still small La Spezia. From 1842 the books were kept on the ground floor of the Teatro Civico.
The collection grew with the manuscripts from the libraries of the convents suppressed in 1866. In 1898 the society handed management over to the city, and in 1906 the library moved to Palazzo Crozza. The move was directed by Ubaldo Mazzini, who was also the director and now gives the library its name.
In 1943, when the bombing of the La Spezia stronghold began, almost all the volumes were taken to the church of San Carlo in Borghetto Vara, in the Vara valley. It seemed a safe place.
The war arrived right there and the storeroom was destroyed. The books that were recovered were damaged and some were lost. After the war the collection was restored and put back in order.
Until 1984 the palace also housed the collections of the Civic Archaeological Museum, later moved to Castello San Giorgio, and it was restored in 2001. Since that restoration the reading room has lamps on the desks, for those who study.