Biblioteca Manfrediana

The Biblioteca Manfrediana is Faenza’s civic library, founded in 1797 from collections of religious houses suppressed under Napoleonic rule. Its Raccolta Faentina, a collection of works printed by or about Faenza, preserves the city’s literary and documentary heritage. The library occupies the former Servite convent, founded in 1313.

Why it matters

The library’s collections grew through the transfer of monastic books, private bequests and municipal records. The Raccolta Faentina now exceeds 47,000 items, despite extensive losses during the Second World War. Its history connects a major civic collection with the religious institutions and local scholarship that shaped Faenza.

What to notice

The Aula Magna, rebuilt after the 1944 bombardment, bears the Latin motto “Huc te sapientiam derige,” carved in 1956. A Roman mosaic floor from the second half of the second century CE, uncovered during renovations, reveals an earlier layer of the site’s history.

Context and history

A document dated 7 July 1797 records the first requisition of keys from Faenza’s suppressed religious houses; inventories listed more than 15,000 volumes. The library opened to the public on 25 November 1818 in the former Jesuit convent and moved to the ex-Servite complex in 1825–26. The 1944 bombardment destroyed the building’s central body, including the campanile, apse and a convent wing, and caused the loss of many volumes and catalogues. The library was rebuilt after the war and continues to preserve the documentary record of Faenza and the surrounding territory.