Civic Library

The Civic Library of Fermo reveals its domestic in Palazzo degli Studi, intricately related to Palazzo dei Priori through a captivating Renaissance loggia. Palazzo degli Studi, predicted by means of architect Girolamo Rainaldi, boasts a monumental brick facade, now adorned with a uniform yellow-ochre plastering. Originally designed to complement the rectangular along Palazzo dei Priori, it provides an first rate architectural backdrop. On the ground ground, the historic portico has been repurposed into compartments housing the library’s section dedicated to young readers. Adorning the noble facade are four windows embellished with stone jambs and broken pediments, every containing busts of the popes who supported Fermo University over the centuries. At the center of the facade, an arched entrance welcomes visitors. Above, a small balcony embellished with a balustrade houses a stone tabernacle containing the statue of the city’s client saint, the Assumption. An fashionable rib vault with a clock and triangular tympanum crowns the building. Palazzo degli Studi served as the headquarters of the University of Fermo until 1826, founded in 1585 by way of Pope Sixtus V. The want for a civic series changed into keenly felt with the aid of Cardinal Decio Azzolino junior, counselor to Queen Christine of Sweden and a passionate literature enthusiast. In 1688, the Cardinal converted a room in Palazzo dei Priori, formerly used for theater performances, into the Globe Room, housing shelves crafted from walnut wooden and a treasured fir wooden ceiling. This room bureaucracy the original nucleus of the civic library, retaining its historic fund. Notably, it derives its name from the enormous globe crafted via cartographer Silvestro Moroncelli from Fabriano in 1713

The “Romolo Spezioli” Civic Library, renowned international amongst researchers and students, boasts an impressive array of treasures, including richly illuminated manuscripts, uncommon revealed editions, and an extensive photo collection. Its collections comprise about three,000 manuscripts, including 127 codices and eleven chorales, in conjunction with 300,000 documents, over 800 historic periodicals, five,000 drawings, and 6,500 engravings, in addition to coins and seals. Moreover, the library homes 681 incunabula, over 15,000 sixteenth-century variations, 23,000 miscellaneous variants, and numerous examples of seventeenth and 18th-century courses and musical prints. Originally based with the bequest of Fermo noble Paolo Ruffo, the library’s holdings multiplied significantly over the centuries via donations and purchases. These acquisitions contributed to the formation of a treasured historical collection, organising the Fermo Civic Library as a prestigious group in Central Italy.A highlight of the library’s holdings is the Romolo Spezioli series, named after the private health practitioner of Queen Christine of Sweden. Gifted specially uncommon scientific books by way of Cardinal Azzolino in 1705, Spezioli bequeathed his complete collection upon his demise, organising the library as a leading authority in the examine of medical history.In 1860, the library similarly enriched its holdings with acquisitions from the De Minicis brothers, such as no longer simplest books however additionally epigraphic, numismatic, and artistic collections, drastically 15,000 books on archaeology. Subsequent donations within the twentieth century, such as the Filoni, Maranesi, and Gigliucci collections, alongside published works and drawings by means of architect Giovanni Battista Carducci, bolstered the library’s resources. Notable additions to the literature and song collections consist of acquisitions from the libraries of Alvaro Valentini and Firmino Sifonia. The photo collection features notebooks from the sixteenth century, attributed to Cola dell’Amatrice and Giovanni Antonio Dosio, as well as over 1,000 drawings by means of Fortunato Duranti. Among the library’s prized possessions is Manuscript No. 16, a 10th-century parchment codex containing essays on rhetoric. Of specific significance is the healing of an incunable – the editio princeps of Christopher Columbus’s 1493 letter to the royal treasurer of Spain, a rare and valuable artifact. Equally noteworthy is the XV-century Libro delle Ore, believed to have belonged to Queen Christine of Sweden.