The Biblioteca civica Angelo Mai of Bergamo is the main institution of historical preservation of the library circuit of Bergamo. It is located in the Palazzo Nuovo in Città Alta, which, in a position opposite the Palazzo della Ragione, closes Piazza Vecchia to the north-east. The Library, opened in the second half of the eighteenth century and has always been administered by the Municipality of Bergamo, which owns it, is one of the richest Italian historical preservation libraries. It offers opportunities for historical research in all disciplinary fields.
It preserves important book and archival collections: 710,000 printed volumes, 11,200 newspapers and magazines, 10,180 manuscripts, 2,140 incunabula, 12,000 sixteenth century books, 30,000 pieces of music; 22,000 parchments, 171 correspondence, 1,106 prints and drawings, 1,920 cartographic maps, 125,000 photographs; the Historical Archive of the Municipality of Bergamo, the Historical Archive of the Misericordia Maggiore, 71 archival collections of organizations, individuals and families.
