Cloister of the Classense Library

The Camaldolese abbey hosts the ancient Classense Library, the construction of which began in 1512. Over the centuries, the building has undergone continous expansion works, thus becoming one of the biggest and most impressive monuments of the Camaldolese order.
Paintings and artworks by numerous artists from the 16th to the 18th century are still decorating the library rooms and corridors. The Aula Magna or Libreria is of utmost importance: built between 17th and 18th century by abbot Pietro Canneti, it is adorned with statues, stuccoes and finely carved wood shelves, and decorated with frescoes and paintings by Francesco Mancini. Together with the monumental cloisters, the large refectory and the antique sacristy (now Sala Muratori), the whole complex is an authentic architectural and artistic treasure.
The library preserves a wide collection of books of different types ranging from ancient and modern printed works, manuscripts and etchings to maps, photographs, archive documents and multimedia materials. The collection of volumes of Classense Library consists of about 800.000 units, most of which are books on humanities; however, science-related works are numerous too. The section dedicated to the ancient collections includes volumes from the 15th to the 18th century as well as around 750 manuscripts, half of which dating back from the 10th to the 16th century.