entry Aug 2005
Storia Patria Nostra Library
My least favorite quote about books is
from the Bible, Ecclesiastes 12:12—“…of making many
books there is no end; and much study is a weariness
of the flesh…”. It is, however, the one favored by
most of my college students. My favorite
quote, on the other hand, is from Groucho Marx: “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best
friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.”
Which reminds me —I have
no dog, but the Storia Patria Nostra
library has long been one of my best friends in
Naples. Whether I want an item about the recent
history of Naples or the front page of the March 13,
1918 Mattino (which chronicled a WWI
German Zeppelin attack on
Naples), they put up with me. Even cheerfully. They
look at my scribbled request slip, wonder why I don’t
cross my 7’s, smile, disappear for a moment and
reappear with the goods.
The origins of the Storia Patria Nostra
library can be traced to the Neapolitan Historical
Society founded in 1843, well before the unification
of Italy. Under the current name, however, the
society and library were founded in 1875. The
library now occupies sections of two floors of the Maschio Angioino, the great
fortress at the port of Naples.
The holdings of the
library consist of about 350,000 volumes and
monographs plus an enormous number of newspapers and
other periodicals. It is the largest such institution
in southern Italy and, indeed, is one of many such
regional societies in Italy, each dedicated to its own
local history. For the foreigner, it is important to
remember that “Patria
nostra” does not mean simply the city of
Naples, and not even just the province. It should be
understood in the sense of “southern Italy.” The
society that governs the library also publishes the
periodical Archivio
Storico per le Province Napoletane, an important scholarly journal that was,
between 1899 and 1932, in the diligent hands of Benedetto Croce, one of
the great historians and scholars in European history.
The library hosts numerous conferences and
discussions, as well.
to
miscellaneous portal
to language &
literature portal
to top of this page
© 2002 - 2023