Cosimo Medici's Library in Florence
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana

Early Collection - San Marco
San Marco Library Today The present day Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana est. 1808 (shown below) has a long and complicated history tracing back to Cosimo Medici's commissioning of Michelozzo to build a long room in 1437 near the Dominican monastery at San Marco's. The collection consisted of books that Cosimo acquired at the death of his friend Niccolo Niccoli, who had wanted his collection made available to the public. Hibbert actually states that of the 800 volumes, Cosimo only gave the monastery the religious books while keeping the others for his private collection. Yet another scholarly bibliographic account of the Niccoli collection by Ullman states Cosimo supplemented Niccoli's collection with religious books that complemented the original 400 volumes. Already supplied with many Latin and Greek volumes, Cosimo's acquired books of the church fathers - Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Ambrose, Jerome, Origen, etc. Furthermore, according to Ullman Cosimo even donated a few books from his own private collection, which at his death only numbered 150 volumes. Though it is unclear whether Cosimo was contributing more to his private collection or the one at San Marco, what isn't questioned is Cosimo's generosity in adding volumes to what became the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.
San Marco Piazza View San Marco Library

San Marco Cloisters
San Marco Cloisters

Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana - San Lorenzo
Laurenziana Bookcases Although there are discrepancies in the sources, it appears that Cosimo's private collection (perhaps housed by this time in San Lorenzo or the Medici Palace depending on the source) and perhaps even part of the San Marco Collection were sold to Giovanni de Medici(Pope Leo X), who due to the temporary expulsion of the Medici family from Florence in 1490, brought the collection to Rome. Then in around 1522 it was brought back to Florence and placed in a building designed by Michelangelo in the cloisters of San Lorenzo. This buidling, the Biblioteca Laurentiana, is recognized by architects as the finest Renaissance library building. By 1571 the library was opened to the public offering over 3,000 printed books and manuscripts. Then finally in 1808 this collection merged with the Marciana collection held in San Marco (perhaps this was Niccolo Niccoli's original collection?!) to become one of the greatest libraries of today. Now a state institution it holds more than 55,000 volumes, 11,000 manuscripts and 4,000 incunabula. Laurenziana Vestibule Laurenziana Interior

As an interesting aside, Cosimo also established the Badia, a library at the Fiesole Abbey. Cosimo paid to have 200 volumes copied out by scribes who were supervised by the bookseller Vespasiano da Bisticci. It took forty-five copyists twenty-two months, as this was before the introduction of the printing press to Italy in 1465. This collection eventually became part of the state library of Florence.

Other Contemporary Renaissance Italian libraries

Room of Pope Sixtus V

Romes' Vatican Library - 1447 Tomaso Parentucelli when he became Pope Nicholas V set up the library at the Vatican. Earlier Parentucelli had advised Cosimo on book selection for San Marco, and he made it his objective to make the Vatican library the greatest scholarly library in the world. At his death in 1455 the library, containing 400 Greek and 800 Latin manuscripts, had become one of the largest of its time.
Venice's Biblioteca Marciana - 1588 Cardinal Bessarion donated a large collection of 700 Latin and Greek codices to Venice in 1448 that were housed in the Ducal Palace. Scholar Pietro Bembo was appointed librarian for the collection and under his leadership a new building was built in St. Mark's Square.
Milan's Ambrosiana Library - 1609 Sometimes called the first public library, because it was independent from religious affiliation, the Ambrosiana had 30,000 books and 15,000 manuscripts thanks to the generosity of Cardinal Borromeo who sent out scholars across Italy and Europe to make purchases.

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