The Malatesta Library in Cesena is a monastic library of particular historical importance. Founded in the middle of the 15th century, it holds two absolute records: it was the first civic library in Italy and in Europe and it is the only example of a humanistic monastic library that has survived to this day, perfectly preserved in the building, in the furnishings and in the library equipment.
UNESCO has included it in the Register of the Memoire du Monde.
In addition to the monumental part, where almost 250,000 volumes are preserved, of which 287 incunabula, about 4,000 sixteenth century, 1,753 manuscripts ranging from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and over 17,000 letters and autographs, the library has recently expanded its modern wing, where more than one hundred thousand books are kept and where there are also the Children’s Library and the Mediatheque".
