Storie e leggende di una "libraria" gesuitica (original) (raw)

Located in Faenza (Ravenna), the Torricelli classical high school is one of the oldest institutions in Italy. Situated in an ancient palace which had hosted a Jesuit boarding school since the 17th century, it displays a huge library, including 4,000 notably ancient volumes, mostly inherited from the Jesuit school. Over the 19th century, famous teachers have been in charge of the library, such as Isidoro del Lungo, Giuseppe Cesare Abba and Gaetano Salvemini. Among the usual habitués of the school library we also find the Nobel Prize poet Giosue Carducci, whereas the previous Jesuit library had been attended by Cardinal Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, later to become Pope Pio IX. This article includes a short summary of the history of this library, some odd facts and curiosities about it, and last but not least some food for thought on the interest that this ancient heritage may arouse in today’s students