Cesena has an ancient and
important history, a dynamic present and is ready to welcome who wants to
discover its secrets and beauties. Besides the outstanding historic features
(with the Malatestian Library as the most stunning example) there are other
monuments that are worth a visit: the Malatestian Fortress, the millenary
Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria del Monte, the eighteenth-century Villa
Silvia Carducci, seat of the Museum “Musicalia”. The many religious and civic
buildings testify the importance that the city and the neighbouring territories
had during the last centuries.
It’s the first public library in Italy and has no equals in the world.
It’s exactly how it was built in 1452 and well-preserved. One of a kind and
charming, the Malatestian Library is since 2005 UNESCO World Heritage. It was
commissioned by the lord of the city Malatesta Novello and it’s based on the
project of Matteo Nuti (1447-1452). The impressive walnut portal leads to the Aula del Nuti (Nuti Room) with a
basilical plant with three naves, divided by two rows of 10 columns. The eleven
spans host the 58 plutei (pine wood
desks for readers) that contain 340 valuable codes, decorated with fine
miniatures.
Opposite the Malatestian
Library there is the Piana Library, owned by pope Pius VII (1800-1823). The
pope left his library to the Benedictines in Santa Maria del Monte Monastery to
their use but it remained property of the Chiaramonti family. It was sold in
1941 by the heirs to the Italian State and it’s now stored in the Malatestian
Library. It contains more than 5000 printed books (centuries XV-XIX) and a
hundred manuscripts. Some of the most valuable codes are an Evangeliary that
dates back to 1104, a juridical code (XIII century) that contains the “Decretum
Gratiani”, a roman missal dated back to the beginning of the XV century with a
wonderful illuminated crucifixion.
It is situated in the former refectory of the ancient San Francesco
monastery inside the glamorous fifteenth-century library. Fondo Comandini was
inaugurated in March 1970 and soon stood out for the collection of works from
the Risorgimento. The collection began with Alfredo Comandini, who was both a
journalist and a politician. His cousin Ubaldo, national manager of the
republican party and member of parliament, took care of it and left it to his
sons Federico and Giacomo, who decided to give it as a gift to the city of
Cesena.
State
archive
The sources of documentation related to the history of Cesena and its
territory are kept in the state archive. It’s located in a wing of the former
Conventual Franciscan Monastery, one of the most important buildings of the
city, rich in history and next to the Malatestian Library. The most meaningful
collections are the historic Archive of Cesena (1368-XIX century), the historic
Archive of Roversano (1464-1925), the notarial Archive (1386-XIX century), the
Scriptures of the suppressed religious Corporations (1060-1920) and the Land
Register (1539-XX century). The State Archive has received documents from the
Malatestian Library about both the city and the neighbouring territories.
Chronicles, manuscripts and other documents are still kept in the library.
Further documents relating to local history can be found in the Capitular
Archive and in the Episcopal Archive.
On the Spaziano hill there is
the millenary Monastery of Santa Maria del Monte, famous for its collection of votive offerings (dating
back to more than five centuries ago). It’s one of the most decorated in
Europe, with the impressive dome painted by Giuseppe Milani and with the book
restoration laboratory (still up and running).
The laboratory was founded in
1960 by Dom Placido Zucal, who followed the proposal of the Soprintendenza ai Beni Librari (Superintendence
of books). It took part in the recovery of the books threatened by the flood in
Florence cooperating with other Libraries and Archives in Emilia-Romagna and
other regions for the restoration of both printed and handwritten works, as for
example an autograph of San Francesco d’Assisi or Mario Guidi’s atlas. The
laboratory takes care of the restoration of ancient books and works on paper
and parchment, and of modern documents using the most sophisticated scientific
equipment. The main function of the laboratory is to advice precautionary
measures and to preserve librarian and archival works. It produces materials
for the conditioning of librarian and archival records too.
Not to be missed is the monastery library. It was appropriated from the
State in the XIX century and enriched with rare editions from the library of
pope Pius VII. It was completely bombed out during the Second World War and
partially rebuilt. Now it’s composed by two big rooms connected by a gallery.
It includes 55thousand volumes regarding theological and humanistic issues that
anyone, both clerical and non-clerical, can read to improve their culture.
