The Girolamini Library in Naples will become accessible to the public again on April 22, 2026, after a 14-year closure. The opening, as reported by the Vesuviolive.it news outlet, will take place through an exhibition housed in the institute’s historic rooms and dedicated to the book collection of Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva, a prince and figure of the Southern Renaissance. The exhibition marks the gradual reactivation of one of the most significant library complexes in Italy’s cultural heritage.
The Girolamini Library represents the oldest public library in the city of Naples and the second oldest in Italy after the Malatesta Civic Library in Cesena. It opened to the public in 1586 and its specialization has been consolidated over the centuries in the fields of philosophy, Christian theology and sacred music. The preserved holdings amount to about 160,000 volumes, with a substantial presence of 16th-century editions. The library also preserves the memory of the passage of Giambattista Vico, who studied among these collections, while the Vico Room constitutes one of the best-known rooms in the entire complex.
The formation of the collection is the result of a long and stratified process, nurtured by donations, bequests and acquisitions made over time by the Oratorian fathers, who considered the book a central tool as much for religious education as for the dissemination of culture. This historical stratification helped define the heterogeneous yet coherent character of the bibliographic fund.
As the paper also reports, what abruptly interrupted the continuity of public use was the court case initiated in 2011, which involved then-director Massimo De Caro. As head of the facility, De Caro allegedly misappropriated more than two thousand volumes belonging to the collection within about a year. His institutional position, which also matured as a consultant to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, aggravated the scope of the affair, which assumed national importance.
The stolen works also included specimens of particular bibliographic rarity, which were later traced on the international antiquarian market, particularly at auction houses and specialized bookstores in Germany and the United Kingdom. The case ended with a final sentence of seven years’ imprisonment for embezzlement, as well as a ruling by the Court of Auditors awarding compensation of nearly twenty million euros. Following the events, the Girolamini Library was seized and closed to the public for about a decade.
The April 22, 2026 reopening takes place through an exhibition project that reconstructs the book collection of Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva. The exhibition itinerary also integrates loans from outside institutions with the nucleus of illuminated codices already preserved at the Girolamini since the first half of the 18th century. The layout unfolds from the historic entrance located at number 114 Via Duomo and allows, for the first time in years, access to the historic rooms of the complex. The initiative is supported by funding from theCampania Region’s Cohesion Agreement, which made possible the gradual reopening of the spaces and the realization of the cultural project. The exhibition will remain open to visitors until July 19, 2026.
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| Girolamini reopens after 14 years: Naples rediscovers oldest library after 2011 scandal |
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