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National Central Library of Florence

The National Central Library of Florence occupies an eclectic building opened in 1935 beside the Arno, designed by Cesare Bazzani and extended by Vincenzo Mazzei, with a façade of turrets housing statues of Dante and Galileo. Inside, the spaces are arranged around a large distribution hall and a rectangular reading room with arcades on columns with Ionic capitals. It holds almost six million printed volumes, plus tens of thousands of manuscripts, incunabula and 16th-century editions, including Galileo's manuscript of the Sidereus Nuncius. In the entrance portico, a plaque from 1967 commemorates the Angeli del Fango (Mud Angels), the volunteers who saved part of the heritage after the Arno flood of 1966, which submerged the building up to six metres and damaged about a third of its holdings.

Things to do at National Central Library of Florence: 5 missions

• See Galileo's manuscript Sidereus NunciusLook at Galileo's manuscript Sidereus Nuncius among the library's holdings.
• Explore the reading roomExplore the rectangular reading room, with its arcades supported by columns with Ionic capitals.
• Take in the monumental staircaseAdmire the monumental staircase among the many arches and columns of the building's layout.
• See the statues of Dante and GalileoLook at the two statues of Dante and Galileo set into the two turrets at the top of the façade.
• Read the plaque dictated by Bruno MiglioriniRead the plaque dictated by Bruno Migliorini in 1967 in the entrance portico, which commemorates the Angels of the Mud.

Near National Central Library of Florence

Source: bncf.firenze.sbn.it