This content was automatically translated. View the original text.
The Capitolare di Verona is the oldest library in the world still in operation. It was the study library of the Chapter of Canons of the Cathedral (a college of prelates) and since 2019 it has been managed by a Foundation. It has its origins in a Scriptorium, a place for the collection and transcription of religious and secular texts, the existence of which is documented from the 6th century. There is reliable information about the Library dating back to 517 AD, when it was known as Scriptorium ecclesiae Veronensis. During this period, it was frequented by renowned authors such as Dante and Petrarch, and at the same time, the collection of incunabula and early examples of typographic art began.
The Capitolare is located to the left of Verona Cathedral, in the Canonicato building, and is a building that can only be described as immortal: it survived an earthquake, the plague, Napoleon's looting, the flood of 1882 and bombing raids. With 16 centuries of history behind it, it is one of the most extensive libraries on the peninsula in terms of its collection of books and documents. The library shelves hold a wealth of treasures, including famous manuscripts: the Codex Ursicinus, dated 517; the Institutions of Gaius, dating back to the 5th century and an important testimony to Roman law; the Iconografia Rateriana, an 18th-century copy of an image of Verona dating back to the period of Bishop Raterius of Liège.Among the most interesting facts, it is worth mentioning the Indovinello Veronese, one of the first examples of a language in transition between Latin and the vernacular, noted in the margin of an 8th-century Spanish manuscript. The Indovinello Veronese, the first example of the Italian vernacular, dating back to the 8th century. There are also texts illustrated with miniatures, such as the impressive 14th-century choir books, an archive of 11,000 parchments and around 100,000 ancient and modern printed books covering a wide range of subjects: history, philosophy, theology, literature, law, medicine, botany and astronomy.
A visit to the Capitolare is combined with a visit to the Canonical Museum. The exhibition begins in the monumental hall with its wooden shelves filled with books, continuing into the frescoed rooms that house a selection of volumes and other spaces dedicated to temporary exhibitions. The rooms also feature paintings by Antonio Badile, Francesco Morone and Giovanni Caroto, as well as liturgical objects decorated with gold, silver, enamels and gems.
