The 36 biblioteche governative annually spent, in 1908, about 300,000 lire in books. Their accessions were 142,930; there were readers. Out of 1,700 libraries confiscated from sup pressed monasteries, containing two million and a half volumes, about 65o were added to public libraries already in existence; the remainder served to form new communal libraries.
The Fascist Government supervises, not only the libraries de pendent upon it, but also communal, provincial, special and cor poration libraries, by means of 12 Soprentendenze bibliografiche, with headquarters at the chief libraries of each region, and inspec tors in all library centres.
Two publications, the Bollettino della pubblicazioni italiane and Bollettino delle opere modern straniere acquistate dalle bib lioteche governative, for many years issued from the national libraries of Florence and Rome respectively, take the place of a collective catalogue of accessions. The former is the current national bibliography.
The Vittorio Emanuele library at Rome acts as an information bureau, as it is especially well equipped with works of reference. Vatican.—The Biblioteca Vaticana (now in the newly created Vatican State [1929]) stands in the very first rank among Euro pean libraries as regards antiquity and wealth of mss. We can trace it back to the earliest records of the Scrinium Sedis Apos tolicae, kept first at the Lateran, and later on partly in the Turris Chartularia; but one, the doubtful survival, is the Codex Amiati nus now in the Laurentian library. There remains an inventory made under Boniface VIII. The library was moved to Avignon, where it was renewed and was increased, but this collection has only in part, and in later times, been taken into the Library of the Vatican. The latter is a new creation of the 15th century. Eugenius IV. planted the first seed, but Nicholas V. was the real founder of the library, to which Sixtus IV. consecrated an ornate abode, in the Court of the Pappagallo. Sixtus V. erected the pres ent magnificent building in 1588, and greatly augmented the col lection. The most noteworthy librarians were Marcello Cervini (the first Cardinale Bibliotecario, later Pope Marcel II.), Sirleto and A. Carafa. In 1600 it was further enriched by the acquisition of the library of Fulvio Orsini. Pope Paul V. (1605-21) sepa rated the library from the archives and added the two "Pauline" halls, for the new codices. Under him and under Urban VIII.
many mss. were purchased from the Convent of Assisi, the Mi nerva at Rome, the Capranica college, and above all the Rossano, of Bobbio (q.v. above, under "Mediaeval Period"). Gregory XV. (1622) received from Maximilian I., duke of Bavaria, the valu able library of the Elector Palatine, seized by Count Tilly at the capture of Heidelberg. Alexander VII. (1658) added the mss. of the dukes of Urbino. The Libreria della Regina, i.e., of Christina of Sweden, of ancient mss., some from French monasteries, from St. Gall and elsewhere, and others of importance for French literature from the collection of Petau, was in great part pre sented by Alexander VIII. in 1689. Under Clement XI. were pur chased 54 Greek mss. which had belonged to Pius II., and also oriental mss. Under Benedict XIV. was bequeathed the Capponi library, rich in Italian books; and by purchase, the Biblioteca Ottoboniana, which, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew mss. was, after the Vatican, the richest in Rome. Clement XIII. in 1758, Clement XIV. in 1769, and Pius VI. in 1775, were also benefactors. After three centuries of uninterrupted growth the Vaticana was to undergo a severe blow. In 1798, after the Treaty of Tolentino, 500 picked mss. were sent to Paris. These, however, were chiefly restored in 1815, though most of the Palatine mss. found their way back, not to Rome, but to Heidelberg. Pius VII. acquired the library of Cardinal Zelada in i800, and among important purchases of the 19th century were the splendid Cicognara (archaeology and art, 1823) ; Cardinal Mai, 40,000 vols. (1856), some 30o Borghese mss. from the papal library of Avignon, the Barberini library and the Borgia collection, De Propaganda Fide. The printed books in the Vaticana number some 350,00o, the mss. about 53,00o, and the incunabula about 6,000 with many vellum copies; 500 Aldines and a great number of bibliographical rarities, including very many presentation copies. Among the Greek and Latin mss. are some of the most ancient and valuable in the world; e.g., the famous biblical Codex V aticanus of the 4th century, the two Virgils of the 4th and 5th centuries, the Bembo Terence, and the palimpsest De Republica of Cicero.