Le biblioteche della Nazione. A two-way discussion on Francesco Dendena's recent book

Abstract

Francesco Dendena’s recent book, Le biblioteche della Nazione. Politiche e usi del patrimonio librario dalla Repubblica Cisalpina al Regno d’Italia (1796-1805), Rome, Viella, 2023, reflects on the policies for managing library collections, and their social implications, in the decade following the advance of the French Republican armies in 1796. The geographic area investigated includes the current territories of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, then known as the Cisalpine Republic. The volume is the subject of a co-authored review aimed at highlighting the book’s points of interest: firstly, the political dimension of a reality, that of the library, fully capable of participating in the revolutionary moment in which it operates; secondly, and as a consequence of the political dimension, the remodelling of collections, spaces, and reading practices.