The Library

The Library of the Pontificia Insigne Accademia di Belle Arti e Lettere dei Virtuosi al Pantheon is located in the registered office in Rome, in piazza di S. Calisto 16, where works of art (paintings and sculptures) of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries are also on display.

The result of donations from scholars, members and friends, the Virtuosi Library was established and enlarged over the centuries, from the 16th century to the present day. It includes rare and antiquarian books; in particular, a large number of editions prior to 1830, as well as some from the sixteenth century, which suggestively attest to the origin, in the 16th century (1543) of the Sodalizio dei Virtuosi, which originally had the status of Company or Congregation.

It numbers 4,500 volumes; in addition to antiquarian books, it includes exhibition catalogues, manuals and monographs on art history and criticism, archeology, architecture, essays on literature and poetry and encyclopedias. Of particular importance are the 21 volumes (23 in the German edition) of the Storia dei Papi dalla fine dell’età medievale (1417) a Pio VI (1799), by Ludwig von Pastor. Just as important, for access to materials useful for antiquarian, historiographic and scholarly research is the Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da San Pietro sino ai nostri giorni, Venetia 1840-1861, by Gaetano Moroni.

Would-be users may make appointment by email to the Library.