Marciana National Library - Ex Mint of San Marco

The Marciana Library (or the Library of San Marco) is one of the largest Italian libraries and the most important in Venice.

It is located in the city of Venice, in the San Marco district, near Piazza San Marco and part of the building is the former Mint of the Republic of Venice.

Currently, the Marciana Library depends on the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and has one million volumes, 13,000 manuscripts and more than 2,800 incunabula.

The Marciana Library building is a true work of art starting from the decoration of its rooms, its sculptures and coffered ceilings.

This library is rich in terms of Greek culture, the history of Venice and Venetian editions, and has been reinforced in this century by large donations.

Currently it is at the service of scholars from all over the world having an important role in the cultural life of the city of Venice.

The Marciana Library, also known as the Sansoviana Library, was born thanks to the sponsorship of Cardinal Bessarione, who in 1468 donated his collection of about 750 manuscripts to which he then added another 250 manuscripts and printed works.

Venice accepted the gift and began to consider a design by Francesco Petrarca, from a century earlier, for a "public library" in Venice.

The Venetian state undertook to create a building worthy of this gift, but it was not possible to start the construction of the library until 1537 using the designs of Jacopo Sansovino that harmonize the noblest classic Renaissance style with the picturesque Venetian atmosphere.

After the library was moved to the new building, a period of donations and inheritances began.

This increase is mainly due to the transfer from the libraries of some monasteries, as well as the obligation imposed on the press to deliver a copy of each published book, according to the Venetian law of 1603.

After the fall of the Republic of Venice, the library was further enriched as a result of religious bodies suppressed in the Napoleonic era where the libraries were transferred to the Marciana Library.

Bessarione had made it a condition that the books be placed in a suitable location.

But the Serenissima took a long time to fulfill this condition.

The library was first placed in a building on the Riva degli Schiavoni, then in San Marco and finally in the Doge's Palace.

Only in 1537 was the construction of the Palazzo della Libreria begun, located in Piazza San Marco and designed by Jacopo Sansovino.

In 1545 the ceiling of the reading room collapsed and Sansovino found himself in prison. Thanks to the recommendations of influential friends, however, he was soon released and was able to resume the work, but he had to repay the damage with his own money. The library moved to the old Library in 1553. The building, however, was only completed in 1588 by Vincenzo Scamozzi, who had taken over the direction of the work after Sansovino's death in 1570.

Among others, Titian, Paolo Veronese, Alessandro Vittoria, Battista Franco, Giuseppe Porta, Bartolomeo Ammannati and Tintoretto contributed to its decoration.

The most important specimens from the bottom of the Marciana are the two most illustrious codices of the Iliad, the Homerus Venetus A (10th century) and the Homerus Venetus B (11th century).

Also worthy of mention is Fra Paolino's Chronologia magna, a manuscript of Pliny's Naturalis historia, copied for Giovanni Pico della Mirandola in 1481, a copy of the first book printed in Venice, Cicero's Epistulae ad familiares from 1481 and four consilium manuscripts from Bartolomeo Capodivacca in the 14th century.

The library also houses 56 volumes of diaries by Marin Sanudo, one of the most important sources in Venetian history between 1496 and 1533. A particular treasure of the library is a complete collection of the Aldine.

The library also has a remarkable collection of maps and atlases, both historical and current. The map of the world by Fra Mauro (1459) and the map of the city of Venice by Jacopo de 'Barbari (1500) stand out.

In 1811 the library was moved to the Doge's Palace.

Only in 1924 did it return to its historic location. Today it occupies, in addition to the Palazzo della Libreria, also the Fabbrica della Zecca di Jacopo Sansovino.

Since 1996, the library's assets have been the subject of a series of bibliographic recovery, reproduction, digitization and cataloging interventions. Some of these interventions were also carried out thanks to the Lotto Lotto funds, based on the provisions of law 662/96.

Map: Marciana National Library - Ex Mint of San Marco