LIBRARIES A N D ARCHIVES 5 . ITALY A N D THE VATICAN

A . D. W R I G H T Merton College, Oxford

THE LATE UNIFICATION of Italy and the persistence of local independence have produced a wide geographical dispersal of material for any peri0d.l The student of Italian history, secular or ecclesiastical, will often need to work in the Library and Archives of the sovereign state of Vatican City. For the study of Spanish-ruled Italy or Austrian-ruled territories research will be necessary not only in Italy but also in the central archives of the former ruling power. Within Italy itself it is virtually true that a local Archivio di Stato exists wherever there was once the court of an independent state; and such Archivi di Stato will often prove the student’s base for research. Archival material is to be found also in Italian libraries. Yet the provision of modern secondary sources, Italian or foreign, is extremely poor. Of the State libraries bearing the title Biblioteca Nazionale, in Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples, Palermo, Turin, none is in any way an equivalent to the British Museum, nor to the ancient university libraries of England. The holdings of these institutions represent random acquisitions, and reflect regional interests. The student cannot rely on finding foreign works nor periodicals in Italian libraries. The archival resources of ecclesiastical institutions naturally remain more intact than in countries which have experienced a full Reformation or Dissolution. But the Napoleonic and Risorgimento periods, as well as others such as that of the Enlightenment in parts of Italy, resulted in the suppression of some convents; and the archives of these are usually incorporated in Archivi di Stato. Equally there is a paucity of local Inquisition material, as a result of Napoleon’s policy of destroying these records.

The best general guide to Italian libraries and archives is P. 0. Kristeller: Iter Italicum, a Jinding list of uncatalogued or incompletely catalogued human- istic MSS. of the Renaissance in Italian and other Libraries (2 vols., London/ Leiden, 1963-7). For students of any period of Italian history (despite the subtitle of this work), the indication of available catalogues to each library or archive is invaluable. A second indispensable work (again with a title which does not indicate its importance) is R. Gray and D. Chambers: Materials for West African History in Italian Archives (Athlone Press, 1965). The provision of historical notes, addresses, opening-hours, indication of catalogues, conditions of admission, principles of organization and biblio- graphic suggestions is unrivalled; especially as virtually every major Italian archive and library is mentioned.

I am grateful for the assistance of Prof. C. Pavon. Dr. S. J. Woolf, Dr. A. Lutterell, Fr. C. Burns, J. Law, Esq., and H. Butters, Esq.

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A. D. WRIGHT 51 A series of guides to the Archivi di Stato, incomplete as yet and usually

lacking detailed indication of material, has been published since the War by the Minister0 dell'hterno. (Pubblicazioni degli Archivi di Stato, Roma.) The central Archivio di Stato, in the E.U.R. district of Rome, is obviously of importance to students of modern Italy, as it houses the greater part of all administrative material since 1860. This material, including that relating to the fascist period, is available for the period up to the proclamation of the Republic in 1946. With permission the student may supplement this source by research at the archives of the Italian Foreign Ministry. The relevant sections of the Guida delle Istituzioni culturali di Roma (Fondazione R.U.I., centro studi del Lazio 1970) should be consulted for both institutions. This is a most valuable guide to all the archives and libraries of Rome, including the libraries of the foreign academies, containing notes on opening-hours, Directors' names and addresses, and methods of application.

In the local Archivi di Stato in other Italian cities the MS. catalogues available are often inadequate. Losses and lacunae are not always recorded. Both direction and staff, however, are usually helpful in attitude. The Archivi di Stato often close on major religious feasts as well as other national holidays; and this is true of libraries also. The opening-hours of Archivi di Stato and libraries do not permit of generalization; a longer midday closure may be expected in the South than in the North, The Archivio di Stato di Roma, which must not be confused with the central Archivio di Stato mentioned above, has a smaller range than its equivalents elsewhere in Italy. Since some of the material connected with papal government, appropriated by the Italian State at the fall of papal Rome, has now been restored to the Vatican Archives. The remaining material may be examined not only for the history of the papal states, however, but also for the occasional document concerning the history of the Church. A passport or identity document will be necessary when requesting material, as in other Archivi di Stato and in State libraries. The most useful identity document, throughout Italy, is that issued by the Council of Europe (Central Bureau for Educational Visits and Exchanges, London). In general a card should if possible bear a photograph and the rubber stamp of some institution. It is becoming increasingly common for Archivi di Stato to open only in the mornings; while generally material is requested and delivered di giorno in giorno, i.e. delivery being made on the day subsequent to the request. 'There is usually no restriction on the use of ball-point pen; but limitations exist on the number of requests which may be made in a day and the lateness of the hour at which they may be made. Photocopying arrangements are slow; payment being made in advance. Small reference Iibraries are attached to certain Archivi di Stato; but not all are open to students. The student planning to work in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia should be prepared for the over-crowded conditions which exist in summer; the summer closure for the second half of August at the Archivio di Stato di Firenze should equally be noted. Certain institutions on presentation of an identity document issue a tessera to students, which must be used sub- sequently. This is true at Venice of the Archivio di Stato and of the Sala di

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Lettura in which MSS. are read in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana. At Rome it is true of the printed book and of the MSS. sections at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale.

An important but incomplete series of guides to Italian libraries is the Inventari dei Manoscritti delle Biblioteche d'Italia. (Forli, Bordandini, 1890 onwards ; subsequently Olschki. Earlier vols. reprinted Florence, Olschki, 1955 onwards.) Information on the major libraries of Rome, formerly of religious foundations, now Italian State institutions, may be found in the Guide-manuel des bibliothzques de Rome (Institut historique nierlandais, Roma, 1932). Libraries containing historical material elsewhere in Italy, apart from the Biblioteche Nazionali mentioned above, are communal or independent. (A few large cities also have civic libraries to a small extent corresponding to British public libraries.) An identity document will usually secure admission to either class of library. The legibility and state of revision of catalogues to printed books or MSS. are often poor. Published catalogues, as opposed to brief guides, are few, apart from the volumes in the series Inventari dei Manoscritti. The material to be found in communal archives can prove complementary to that in local Archivi di Stato, but again published catalogues are rare. Private archives require personal application to the owners, as elsewhere. Some material which should be in Archivi di Stato passed into private hands during the Risorgimento and has remained there. Admission to ecclesiastical institutions varies. Libraries or archives famed for holdings of particular interest, such as humanist MSS. or incunabula, are usually more accessible than are administrative archives; among the latter diocesan archives are generally easier of access than are capitular, parochial or conventual. It is obvious that correspondence with archivists at such institutions is a vital preliminary to research in Italy. Closures because of strikes, a significant feature of a research student's life in Italy, do not, however, affect ecclesiastical institutions unless indirectly.

Among particular local conditions in libraries and archives the destruction of material in Florence and in the south of Italy should be especially noted. In Florence the losses and damage caused by the flood at the Archivio di Stato and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, whether permanent, or, given the lengthy nature of the restoration programme, long-term in effect, are outlined in an article by A. Antoniella: Pubblicazioni sull'alluvione del 4 nov. 1966 (Archivio Storico Italiano, 1967, No. 456, anno CXXV, p. 488 sqq.). At the Archivio di Stato the records of secularized religious foundations, the Conventi Soppressi, suffered particularly; and both ecclesiastical and secular historians should bear this in mind. Ecclesiastical historians working in Venice, however, may benefit from the existence at the Fondazione Cini of microfilmed material from the Vatican relevant to Venetian history. Pre- Second World War guides to material in Southern Italy are of little use, because of the extensive losses caused by bombing. This is especially true of the royal archives at Naples, though here, as elsewhere in the South, the picture is confused by the lack of systematic published catalogues, from either before or after the War. The few post-War relevant publications include:

A. D. WRIGHT 53 A. Lombardo: Guida delle fonti relative alla Sicilia esistenti negli Archivi di Stato per il period0 1816-60 (Roma, 1961 ; Quaderni della Rassegna degli Archivi di Stato lo); and Abbazia di Montecassino: I regesti dell’ archivio (a cura di T. Leccisotti) (Pubbl. degli Archivi di Stato, Roma, 1964 onwards; 5 vols., nos. LIV, LVI, LVIII, LX and LXIV). Discussion of individual conditions elsewhere in Italy is impossible in the space available for this article. By any other criteria of course there are many institutions deserving description, such as the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the earliest com- pletely public library in Europe. Of the Roman libraries formerly of religious foundations the Vallicelliana suffered the least disruption at the fall of papal Rome. In Venice the Fondazione Cini is of great value to students of Venetian history and art, and of Levantine history; it has begun a policy of acquiring foreign periodicals. The Biblioteca Civica Correr is very useful for the study of Venetian family history. The humanistic riches of Florentine libraries may be compared with those, on a much smaller scale, of the Biblioteca Trivul- ziana, Milan. In Turin the ex-royal library preserves fine collections. In Bologna (as also at the Accademia di S. Cecilia, Rome) the student of musical history will find much material.

VATICAN CITY

For admission to the Vatican Library, its MS. section, and the Vatican Archives the student should present a passport at the Porta St. Anna of Vatican City, and so reach the Segreteria of the Library and that of the Archives. At each he will need to present a separate, individual letter of introduction to the Prefect and two passport-sized photographs (a stock of which should always be carried in Italy). Each will issue to him a tessera, valid for subsequent entry to Vatican City, and a note of the procedure and regulations of each institution. The procedure for entry and departure and for the request of material is complicated but logical: as with regulations on dress and behaviour it should be strictly observed. The card-catalogue of the printed book section of the Library is excellent; the choice of reference and other open-shelf works exemplary. No problems of over-crowding exist here or in the Vatican Archives during most of the year. The Library and the Archives close for the summer; at present from 16 July to 15 September inclusive. Both institutions are open in the morning only; the staff, clerical and lay, is courteous and helpful in both. Many students neglect the important collections of archival material deposited, by an accident of accessions policy, in the MS. section of the Library. Time within the opening-bours of the Library may be saved if the printed catalogues to much of this section are consulted elsewhere, in other libraries where copies can be found. But unpublished indices, some with revised numbering, exist for the rest of this material in the Catalogue Room of the MS. section, and also make the use of the printed volumes easier. Photocopying arrangements exist in the Vatican; there is no restriction on the use of ball-point pen. On major religious feasts, but not on other national holidays of Italy, both the Library

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and the Archives are closed; closures are not always posted in advance at the entrance desks. The number of requests which may be made in a day in the Library or in its MS. section or in the Vatican Archives is limited; as is the number of volumes which may be retained at any one time.

No student should attempt to use the Archives, or even the indices in the Index Room, without first consulting L. Macfarlane: ‘The Vatican Archives’ (reprinted from Archives, the Journal of the British Records Association, Vol. IV, No. 21 and No. 22, 1959). This is the best guide in English; and should be supplemented by the use of the Sussidiper la consultazione dell’Ar- chivio Vatican0 (Studi e Testi; Vatican City; Vol. 45, 1926; Vol. 55, 1931; Vol. 134, 1947). The hand-written corrections to the copies of these last three volumes kept in the Index Room are important. For problems connected with the vast and imperfectly organized collection of indices and inventories to the Archives it is best to consult the senior lay member of staff, who has the closest working knowledge of the indices, the index of indices, and their respective lacunae. For the most recent periods of history the material in the Vatican Archives is not available (see the article of Macfarlane, p. 91). The student of post-Tridentine ecclesiastical history should not overlook the independent Curial archives, nor the semi-independent Curial archives. The Prefect or Vice-Prefect of the Vatican Archives should be consulted about the use of these. In the case of the semi-independent archives some of their material is available (but uncatalogued), without further formality, in the Vatican Archives. Further information can be found on this subject in the article of Macfarlane and in K. A. Fink: Das Vatikanische Archiv (Roma, 1951).