Biblioteca Civica di Padova

The Library holds more than 500,000 volumes, 5,000 manuscripts, 323 incunabula, 2,000 periodicals, and an iconographic collection of 12,000 items, many of which document the events of Padua and its surroundings at the turn of World War I.

In addition to this core of ancient materials, the Municipality had an increasingly rich collection of works and art objects that remained unattended after the closing of convents, such as that of St. John of Verdara in 1780.

Specifically, after the suppression of the convent, there were paintings, majolica and medals of high value scattered in different sites of the city, without any criteria of organization and protection.

Fundamental to the fortunes of the Library and Museum is the position of chancellor entrusted in 1845 to Andrea Gloria (Padua, July 22, 1821 - Padua, July 31, 1911), who is entrusted by the City Council with the task of arranging the catalogs and inventories concerning the contents of the Archive (until then in the charge of Antonio Cecchini), the Polcastro library (already inherited by the city, but not yet sorted) and the art objects from the former convent San Giovanni da Verdara.

Eleven years later A. Gloria obtained a license from the city to purchase Antonio Piazza's personal library, a rich collection of manuscripts, incunabula, maps and portraits of Paduan subjects.