The Biblioteca Malatestiana
The first civic library in Europe
In the centre of Cesena, a city of Romagna on the Via Emilia, a Renaissance building preserves, intact as it was more than five centuries ago, one of the most extraordinary libraries in the world: the Biblioteca Malatestiana, the first library in Europe to be owned not by a lord or a monastery but by the city, the civic community, and open to the public. It was founded by Malatesta Novello, lord of Cesena and brother of Sigismondo of Rimini, and built between 1447 and 1452 by the architect Matteo Nuti in the convent of San Francesco. In 2005 it was the first Italian site to be included in the UNESCO Memory of the World register.
The ancient hall, the Aula del Nuti, is a long room divided into three naves by two rows of elegant white columns, like a basilica, lit by large windows: along the side naves are arranged 58 wooden benches, the "plutei", which are both desks and shelves, on which the precious codices are still placed, chained to the benches with iron chains, as in the fifteenth century, to prevent theft. The library preserves over 340 manuscripts, in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, of classical works, Bibles, theological, scientific and medical texts, many of them illuminated, copied in the scriptorium of Malatesta Novello or acquired for the library. Everything, from the furniture to the floor and the books, has remained unchanged, making it a unique example of a monastic-humanistic library. The modern library, in the same building, houses other historical collections and the Pinacoteca.
Tip: the ancient hall can only be visited with a guide, in small groups; book in advance, especially at weekends.
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