Biblioteca Malatestiana, Public library in Cesena, Italy
Biblioteca Malatestiana is a public library in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna, that retains its original layout from the mid-15th century. The reading room consists of three naves with wooden vaulted ceilings and 58 wooden desks designed to hold manuscripts.
Malatesta Novello founded the library in 1452 and furnished it with codices drawn from both monastic traditions and humanist scholarship. It was completed two years before Gutenberg introduced movable type printing and remains one of the last libraries designed exclusively for handwritten manuscripts.
The chains attached to desks once protected manuscripts and now serve as a reminder of how books were safeguarded when they were rare and valuable. Between liturgical texts and works by Greek philosophers, the collection reflects the meeting point of monastic learning and humanist curiosity.
Visitors can reach Cesena from Bologna by train in about an hour and a half. The reading rooms benefit from lateral windows that distribute daylight evenly and create a calm, well-lit environment for viewing the manuscripts.
The interior color scheme follows the three colors of the Malatesta family coat of arms: white painted columns, reddish terracotta floors, and walls in shades of green. This combination creates a harmonious unity and links the architecture to the identity of the founding family.
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