The Scarabelli library is the public library in the city of Caltanissetta in the centre of the island of Sicily, Italy. In 1862, the library was established by Antonio Mordini in the premises of the former Jesuit convent.
History
The original core of the library, founded on many donations and acquisitions; it was named after Luciano Scarabelli on 12 May 1882 because of his enlightened generosity. He donated many volumes to which were added to books and archives derived from religious orders in the area, that had undergone suppression over the past decades.
Also contributing to the formation of the library were the abbot Girolamo Maria, (al secolo Pietro Guadagno di Caltanissetta); the prefect Domenico Marco d'Ivrea; the professor Luciano Scarabelli from Piacenza; and the Nisseno librarian Calogero Manasia. Among its collections, the library houses 11 incunabula of philosophical and religious argument dated back to 1476-1496, 2 scrolls, 1042 works from the 16th-century, and 281 manuscripts.
History
The library was established with the 264th decree by Antonio Mordini in 1862. In the same year, Domenico Marco d'Ivrea, first prefect of Caltanissetta, launched a public appeal to all the religious orders, public institutions, patrician families and professionals to donate volumes for the library which was being built in Caltanissetta. The library was opened to the public in 1888 after a first allocation from the Comune and thanks to the preparations of the priest librarian Calogero Manasia.
The private donations
Despite the resistance of many religious orders and the bishop of that time, many sustained the initiative donating volumes accordingly to their social prestige. Among the most important donations the following stand out those by: Cardinal prior Dusmet of the Order of Saint Benedict (Benedettini Cassinesi) order from Catania Liborio Navarra from Castrogiovanni Prince Resuttano Princess Montevago Editor Nicola Zanichelli from Modena Barons Chiaromonte and Bordonaro from Palermo
Other volumes were donated by local citizens (Nisseni), such as: Baron of the Benedettini Cassinesi order from Caltanissetta Baron Lanzirotti Baron Di Figlia Baron Canalotti and others were bought with public funds of the Comune by citizens.
The seizures to the religious orders
The most conspicuous and valuable contribution was that of the old religious orders. In fact, a ministerial decree in 1867 gave a total of 12,367 books taken from the holdings of the holy orders in Caltanissetta.
The religious orders which contributed with their volumes were: the Capuchin order for the majority of works, the Riformati order, the Sant'Antonio of Santissima Maria degli Angeli order, the Benedictine order of Santa Flavia, the Discalced Augustinians, the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God (Fatebenefratelli order), the Dominicans and the Jesuits. The books were delivered on 9 October 1867 except those of the Society of Jesus.
In fact, 1469 volumes from the Jesuits became part of the library fund only in 1889 after being eventually found under the roof of the Sant'Agata Church adjacent to the library building. The books had been hidden there to avoid the seizure when the Jesuits left in 1860 when Giuseppe Garibaldi expelled the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and the Society of Jesus order on 17 June because of their active involvement in higher education which was exclusively granted the King of Naples.
The books were delivered to the library through the intercession of the Minister of Education Boselli who knew the library well and appreciated it.
Luciano Scarabelli's donations
The most important donation is that of the scholarly Luciano Scarabelli, professor of Aesthetics at the University of Bologna. Between 1862 and 1875 he donated more than 2,500 volumes to the library with several consignments. The town council decided to give his name to the library on 12 May 1882 in acknowledgement of the valuable donations that the patron had made to the city of Caltanissetta with democratic spirit. Among the books donated by Luciano Scarabelli those he received as gifts from the personal library of his teacher Piero Giordano should be mentioned. In fact, Piero Giordano gave his books to Luciano Scarabelli provided he would read, study and the donate them to someone who needed it.