the library

Acclavio is a library that is aimed at those who want to get information and train, read, listen to music and - why not - even play. Within renovated and re-functionalized spaces, alongside the traditional support functions for research and study, it combines new services to meet the information and knowledge needs of the entire community.

The current endowment consists of modern and ancient book material, from a vast sample of newspapers, texts in "Braille" language as well as multimedia material: about 160,000 documentary units with volumes of a historical, literary, economic, artistic, scientific, legal nature. The most conspicuous collection is the "Regional Fund", which is and has been one of the most important bibliographic tools for scholars who have studied the events of Taranto in depth. Consisting of about 4,000 volumes and 5,800 brochures, it collects essays on the general history of Puglia, on ancient history, with particular reference to the events of Magna Graecia, monographs with descriptions of characters and localities. The work "De antiquitate et varia tarentinorum fortuna ...", 1589, by Giovan Giovine, the oldest representative of Taranto historiography, should be highlighted, alongside the works of other illustrious writers such as Bonaventura Morone, Cataldantonio Mannarino, Tommaso Nicolò D 'Aquino, the De Vincentiis. The "ancient" patrimony of the Acclavio library consists of a large number of ancient books of considerable value and interest, manuscripts, incunabula and sixteenth-century books that enrich the collection with important works for local historiography.

All the spaces of the Acclavio Library are free of architectural barriers. It also has some technical aids to support the needs of people with different disabilities. The entire area is wi-fi.

background

The first to conceive a Public Library in Taranto was Tommaso Niccolò D’Aquino (1665-1721) who for the sake of knowledge made all his books available to Tarantine scholars. A century later in 1797, the archbishop of Taranto Giuseppe Capecelatro, bragging about being primus Tarenti, established a public library hosting it in the premises of the Episcopio, but the first real library was established by the erudite notary and poet Gaetano Portacci in the second mid-nineteenth century. With the death of Gaetano Portacci and after a short period under the direction of Giuseppe Galasso, the library disappears. On February 26, 1891 Pietro Acclavio died who in his testamentary deed assigned all the patrimony of his library to the city of Taranto.

The contribution of this donation changed the physiognomy of the library so much that it took the name of Pietro Acclavio and there was talk of a re-foundation of the same. The prestige of the library was fully established with the appointment as director of Vito Forleo in 1910, who remained in office until 1949. The current location, identified as the Palace of Culture, was inaugurated in 1997. Thanks to the regional funding 'Community library 'in 2020 the library building was completely renovated.