The current law in Italy pertaining to the public libraries administered by the Italian State was extended in scope to include a special category of cultural institutions: the libraries which form part of “national monuments”, important ecclesiastical complexes such as monasteries and convents which once belonged to religious orders. There are eleven such libraries, located over three Italian regions: in the Veneto, the libraries in the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua and the Abbey of Praglia in Teolo in the province of Padua; in Lazio, the libraries of the Abbey of Montecassino (Cassino, Frosinone), the Certosa of Trisulti (Collepardo, Frosinone), the Abbey of Farfa (Fara in Sabina, Rieti), the Abbey of St Nilo (Grottaferrata, Rome), the Monastery of Santa Scolastica (Subiaco, Rome), the Abbey of Casamari (Veroli, Frosinone); in Campania, the libraries of the Badia di Cava dei Tirreni (Salerno), the Abbey of Montevergine (Mercogliano, Avellino), and of the Oratorio dei Girolamini (Naples). The history of the eleven libraries forming part of these national monuments and the protection of the collections they housed begins with the Unification of Italy in the mid-19th century and continues to the present day, with updating and revisions to the laws overseeing the organisation and administration of the libraries.

Almost sixty years after the Napoleonic suppressions of the monasteries and a few years after the unification of the country, in 1866, a law (no. 2987 on the statute book) was published on 28 June “on religious corporations and the ecclesiastical domain” and ratified by Royal decree on 7 July (no. 3036). It marked a watershed: the various religious orders and congregations were no longer recognised by the Italian State and the “houses and other edifices belonging to the aforesaid Orders … are suppressed” (art. 1, regio decreto no. 3036/1866). The new law, however, also acknowledged some exceptions to this decree: this was the case for the Abbeys of Montecassino and Cava dei Tirreni, San Martino della Scala and Monreale and the Certosa in Pavia which were thus exempted by law from having to devolve their buildings and patrimony to the State and its libraries and museums. Article 33 of the decree reads:

It was the extraordinary richness and cultural value – historical, artistic, literary – of the patrimony conserved in these five ecclesiastical establishments which made them “outstanding monuments”, inalienable and under the control and protection of the Italian State. When Rome became part of the newly unified country the same approach was extended to include the church and monastery of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata which formerly belonged to the Basilian order and the Abbey of Casamari (Veroli); later still there was a further extension to include the Abbeys of Praglia in Teolo (Padua), Santa Scolastica in Subiaco, Trisulti in Collepardo, Montevergine in Mercogliano and the Oratorio dei Girolamini in Naples.

At the beginning of the 20th century, these ancient monastic complexes were all included in the 1902 list entitled Elenco dei monumenti nazionali in Italia edited by the Fine Arts Committee which had been set up as part of the Executive Educational Council. In the list, which covers historic monuments and public edifices such as churches, monasteries, castles, palaces, fountains, Sardinian ‘nuraghi’, two monasteries with important libraries are also included: the Abbey of Farfa in the province of Rieti and the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua. However, the 1866 law was only applied to them much later: in the case of Farfa, in 1928, while Santa Giustina was included in 1946.

Right from the outset, the legislation on “outstanding national monuments” was intended to protect both the buildings – “houses and other constructions” – and the vast collections of books, documents, works of art and scientific instruments which the monasteries housed, a testimony to their centuries-old history. As article 33 in the decree made clear, “the Government will provide for [the] conservation… […] All expenditure … will be covered by the special fund for the Church”.

Initially responsibility for the buildings was the responsibility of the State, by means of the ‘Soprintendenze’ which oversaw the country’s cultural patrimony, while the custody of the libraries remained in the hands of the religious orders from whose ownership they had been removed. The relevant regulations for the libraries owned by the Italian State, on how they were to function, their requirements and duties, administration and use – the first version of which was published on 24 October 1907 (Regolamento per le biblioteche pubbliche governative annexed to “regio decreto” no.733) – also mentioned the libraries which formed part of the national monuments. Thanks to the regulations, these libraries were able to obtain State funding for maintenance and conservation of the patrimonies they housed, while at the same time they were obliged to provide public access to their collections like the other State-owned libraries in the country.