Libraries & Institutions

This is a highly specialized library with a focus on Etruscan and Italic studies (17,000 volumes approximately). Since 2025, it has been merged with the library of the IPP, the Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria and the library of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze (having now a total of 70,000 volumes after the merger), making it the most important library for the pre- and protohistory of Italy. For further information, hours and access please consult the library's hompage. 

Via della Pergola 65, 50121 Firenze 
tel. 055 23579

In the following, a list of archives with material relevant to Rome and the Italian state : ANAI (Associazione Nazionale Archivistica Italiana ;  Archivio Apostolico Vaticano (see also here) ; Archivio centrale dello Stato ; Archivio dell'ANPPIA (Associazione Nazionale Perseguitati Politici Italiani Antifascisti) ; Archivio di Stato di Roma ; Archivio storico Capitolino ; Direzione generale Archivi ; ICAR (Istituto centrale per gli archivi) ; Soprintendenza archivistica e bibliografica del Lazio ; [...]

Over fifty thousand volumes on American topics (history, literature, nonfiction, political science, poetry, theater, etc.).

Oltre cinquantamila volumi su argomenti americani (storia, letteratura, saggistica, scienze politiche, poesia, teatro ecc.)

The Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana (PIAC) was founded in 1925. Its library specializes on the history and archaeology of early Christianity. It is a member of the URBiS library network. For further information (e.g., collections, catalog, access, opening hours), please consult PIAC’s website.

Via Napoleone III, 1, 00185 Rome
tel. 06 446 5574 or piac.biblio[at]piac.it

This library, founded by Pope Pius X in 1909, is specialized in biblical and oriental studies, providing unique resources to scholars of these fields. For further information regarding opening hours and access, please consult the library’s website.

Piazza della Pilotta 35, 00187 Rome
tel. 06 695 266 164

The BAUM (Biblioteca di Area Umanistica) of the Università Ca’ Foscari is a large library with focus on history, the history of philosophy, classical antiquity, and the Ancient Near East, art history and conservation, and Italian studies, holding approximately 380,000 volumes, 1,200 periodicals, 1,442 rare books, and more. For further information (e.g., opening hours, access), please consult the library’s website.

Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà, Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venice
tel. 041 234 5613 or baum[at]unive.it

The BAUM (Biblioteca di Area Umanistica) of the Università Ca’ Foscari is a large library with focus on history, the history of philosophy, classical antiquity, and the Ancient Near East, art history and conservation, and Italian studies, holding approximately 380,000 volumes, 1,200 periodicals, 1,442 rare books, and more. For further information (e.g., opening hours, access), please consult the library’s website.

Palazzo Malcanton Marcorà, Dorsoduro 3484/D, 30123 Venice
tel. 041 234 5613 or baum[at]unive.it

The Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) library, the Biblioteca Centrale Paolo Giuntella, holds approximately 80,000 volumes and 600 periodicals and is specialized on media studies (television studies in particular), theater studies, performing arts, and also, with special regard to Italy, on journalism, history, and sociology. Further, the RAI has several archives with various materials related to broadcasting and television. For further information (e.g., access, opening hours, the other RAI biblioteche, etc.), please consult the RAI Teche’s homepage.

Viale Mazzini, 14, 00195 Rome
tel. 06 3726 4689/4619 or bibliomz[at]rai.it

The École Française de Rome (EFR), founded in 1875, is one of the leading foreign institutions for research in humanities in Rome. It has a splendid library, holding more than two hundred thousand volumes and approximately two thousand periodicals. The holdings cover, additionally to the library’s main focus on the Mediterranean in ancient and medieval times, including Church history, also history and other fields of the humanities and social sciences from prehistory to the present day. The EFR’s library houses probably the best collection of Medieval Studies in Rome and is member of the URBiS library network. For further information (e.g., access, opening hours, or EFR events), please consult the EFR’s homepage.

Palazzo Farnese, Piazza Farnese 67, 00186 Rome
tel. 06 6860 1427 or accueil.bibliotheque[at]efrome.it

The library of the Deutsches Historisches Institut (DHI) in Rome, a leading institution for research on the history of Italy from the early Middle Ages to present, as well as on Church history, holds a special collection on the history of music (approximately 68,000 books and scores, 3,700 sound recordings, and more). A particularly precious part of the DHI’s Music History Department is a collection of historical libretto prints. The DHI is member of the URBiS library network. For further information on access, opening hours, events, etc., please consult the DHI website.

Via Aurelia Antica, 391, 00165 Rome
tel. 06 660 4921 or musikbibliothek[at]dhi-roma.it