Romolo Spezioli Civic Library

The Civic Library “Romolo Spezioli” is housed in the monumental Palazzo degli Studi, connected to the Palazzo dei Priori by a suggestive Renaissance loggia. Designed by Girolamo Rainaldi with an ochre yellow facade that harmonizes the entire square, the building hosted the University of Fermo until 1826. The façade is enriched by the busts of the pontiffs who protected the university and a small balcony with the tabernacle of the Assumption, the city’s patron saint, while the summit is crowned by an elegant sail with a clock.
The institution was founded in 1688 at the behest of Cardinal Decio Azzolino junior, who transformed the ancient court theater into a public reading room, equipping it with walnut shelving and spruce ceilings. This original core, known as the Hall of the Globe, preserves the ancient collection and takes its name from the majestic terrestrial globe made by Silvestro Moroncelli in 1713.
Today, the library is a prominent international destination with a collection of approximately 300,000 documents, including 3,000 manuscripts and rare illuminated codes. The most prestigious core is the collection of Romolo Spezioli, physician to Queen Christina of Sweden, which has made the library an authoritative center for the history of medicine. Among the most valuable treasures, the extremely rare editio princeps of Christopher Columbus’s letter from 1493 is preserved, a Book of Hours that belonged to the Queen of Sweden, and manuscript number 16, a code from the 10th century that represents the oldest document in the collection. The richness of the institute is further enhanced by the collections of the De Minicis brothers and a vast graphic collection featuring drawings by Cola dell’Amatrice and Fortunato Duranti.