National Library

The Central National Library of Florence is one of the most popular in Italy, along with the world-famous library of Rome. It was founded in 1714, when Antonio Maljabeki, a popular Italian scholar, bequeathed to her his huge collection of valuable books, including about 30,000 volumes. Initially, the Central National Library of Florence was called the Library of Mallabecca, it was opened to the public only in 1747. In the middle of 1861, its foundation merged with the Platan Library. Since 1870, copies of all known Italian publications have been collected here.

At the end of 1935, all book collections were moved to a building located along the Arno River, designed by Cesare Bazzani. Before that, they were placed in the premises belonging to the book-loving Uffizi Gallery. In 1966, there was a severe flood, during which the Arno River flooded much of the city. As a result, nearly one-third of the library’s book collection was damaged, particularly several rare book collections and periodicals.