Belluno’s Library is located in Crepadona Building since 1981. The historical complex takes its name from the noble Crepadoni’s family, that owned it for a long time.
In the Archive of Belluno’s Municipality we can find news about it since the second half of the XVI Century, but the building has more ancient origins certainly. It was probably made by putting together some preexisting buildings through time that gathered primitive Roman residences and fortifications’ early medieval underlayers. The current roof terrace has preserved one of the towers’ structure above the northern city walls, whose remains are still visible on the groundfloor. The date of the building’s conclusion (1558) is engraved on the tank’s façade of the fountain that was found inside the courtyard and that is now walled in the building’s entrance.
After a long period in state of neglect and progressive degradation, the building was used for the most disparate uses: from brewery to stock, from distillery to joinery, the building was bought by Belluno’s municipal administration in the 1973 and it was renovated to realize a cultural centre for Belluno’s city with a conservative restoration between 1976 and 1981, based on a project by the architect Mario Dal Mas. The recovery wanted to rediscover the Renaissance appearance of the structure, demolishing all the spaces, structures and ancillary alterations that had been added through the years, recovering instead the original elegance and simplicity of the architectural lines currently appreciable.
The current construction composition derives, even in the local urban context, from the typical Venetian house with two colonnaded sides with arcades above. The beautiful central courtyard develops in a slightly rhombic shape and one side of the arcade continues through an arch onone of the full sides to allow the passage of a marble staircase through which you enter the main hall on the first floor. In the same floor and in the ground floor are visible some interesting frescoes of the XIV-XV-XVIth centuries.
In the Renaissance courtyard is been located one of the symbol of the city’s history: Gaio Flavio Ostilio Sertoriano and his wife Domizia’s Roman sarcophagus (III century), that was found during the digs in the S. Stefano’s Church in the 1480, decorated with vivid hunting scenes.
In the main hall, now library’s reading room on the first floor, are exhibited some works of the painter Masi Simonetti (Zoppé di Cadore 1903 – Paris 1967) from the Civic Museum, while in the Chapel room there is a work of the Franciscan artist Ugolino from Belluno (Belluno 1919- Rome2002).
Crepadona Building, after the restoration works completed in the 2024, is entirely used as the location of the Civic Library; previously, from the inauguration with the exhibition “Arte del ‘600 nel Bellunese” in the 1981, it was a cultural centre, promoter of several art exhibitions, both Modern and Contemporary, that had made it an attraction pole for the provincial and Venetian artistic culture.
In the 2007, on the occasion of the exhibition “Tiziano. Belluno, l’ultimo atto” planned by the architect Mario Botta, was built a temporary structure (so called “the cube”) to cover the courtyard, to realize a new space as exhibition room. The intervention has however deprived for many years the building of its beautiful interior courtyard, substantially changing its functionality and original appearance.The restoration, begun in 2019, has restored the courtyard in its original appearance, transforming it, thanks to the installation of a transparent roof, into a space enjoyable by the citizens, as a meeting and cultural place.
Currently the Civic Library of Belluno occupies all three floors and the roof terrace of Crepadona Building, offering all its users and visitors a reference point for the preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage of Belluno and not only this.
Bibliography: Lungo le vie di Tiziano : i luoghi e le opere di Tiziano, Francesco, Orazio e Marco Vecellio tra Vittorio Veneto eil Cadore / a cura di Marta Mazza. – Ginevra ; Milano : Skira, [2007]. – 197 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
The Heritage
The Library's heritage is made of many documents: manuscripts, ancient and modern printed books, booklets, periodicals, DVDs, CDs, pictures, posters, printed music, audiobooks, digital documents, etc. A search in our digital Catalogue allows to know the depth and the variety of the heritage owned by the Civic Library.
The oldest documents found the historical Library; they are accessible to the users for the local consultation. Among these documents, the Piloni Library's books are particular valuable. A portion of the heritage has been digitized and it is available only online .
Since 1997 a Kids and Teens’ Library has been established, with documents for the youngest readers, from 0 to 16 age group.
Since 2004 the Library participates in the regional project ”Nuova Biblioteca Manoscritta”, which aims to build a single database of Venetian libraries’ manuscripts.
The Library also has special collections, so called because they refer to particular funds received from donations or endowments. Among these are of particular importance:
- Giuliano Procacci's Collection
- Beniamino Dal Fabbro's Collection
- Piero Vinanti Collection
- Vittorio Varale's Collection
- Antonio Miari's Musical Collection
- Giovanni Battista Velluti's Musical Collection
- G. Burloni's Photographic Collection
📷 All the pictures are visible on the digital Catalogue OPAC, searching in the section “GRAPHICS” or in “LIBRARY’S TREASURES”, typing the funds’ name (ex. Burloni).
🗞 The Civic Library collects many periodicals, some of them digitalized .The details and indication of the year's issues owned are available in the digital Catalogue.
💻 A portion of the Library’s heritage has been digitalized through the years. The digital documents, the number of which is constantly being updated, can be found in the section dedicated to the Digital Library or directly on the digital Catalogue, on which digital objects can be viewed.