Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, National library in Castro Pretorio district, Rome, Italy
The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma is a state library located in Rome's Castro Pretorio district. The modern building complex houses millions of printed volumes, manuscripts, drawings, and maps organized in its reading rooms and storage areas.
The library grew from the Jesuit Bibliotheca Secreta at the Collegio Romano, a collection begun after the order's foundation in 1540 and closed to the public. After the Capture of Rome in 1870 the new Kingdom of Italy took it over, and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma was inaugurated on 14 March 1876. It stayed in the Jesuit premises until January 1975, when the present building by Massimo Castellazzi, Tullio Dell'Anese and Annibale Vitellozzi opened at Castro Pretorio.
The library holds Italian publications and international works about Italy in its collection. Three exhibition spaces within the building showcase contemporary literature and historical materials for visitors to explore.
Entry is free and open to anyone aged eighteen or over; register online to receive a card number, or bring a valid ID to the Ufficio Accoglienza e Relazioni con il pubblico. Bags, food and drink stay in the cloakroom, and books you bring must be authorised and absent from the library's catalogues. Request volumes through the catalogue, up to three for consultation and two for loan, choosing the reading room and day; terminals stand halfway along the gallery.
The building houses a dedicated room devoted to writer Italo Calvino. Original items from the author's home and his personal collection are displayed in this special space.
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