Historical Collection
- General information: fondostorico@unive.it
- Consultation and loan: Request form for Ca' Foscari University members [ITA]; Request form for non-University members [ITA]
The History
The Historical Collection originated from the holdings of the first library established with the foundation of the Regia Scuola Superiore di Commercio (Royal Higher School of Commerce) in 1868, as documented in its regulations [ITA].
Over time, the library was enriched by donations and bequests from members of prominent Venetian families, as well as from directors, faculty members and scholars who contributed to shaping the university’s cultural identity.
Today, the Historical Collection comprises approximately 63,000 volumes and pamphlets, divided into the Fondo antico (Old Books Collection) and Fondi speciali (Special Collections), held at various locations in Venice and on the mainland.
The collections also include editions dating from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, atlases, handwritten nautical charts, and treatises on commerce, economics, geography and navigation.
Taken as a whole, they bear witness to the cultural environment that developed around the University and represent the university’s historical memory.
Old Books Collection
The Old Books Collection comprises approximately 7,450 historic volumes published in Italy and abroad between 1524 and 1830.
The collection includes sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century books, as well as a number of valuable editions, including manuscript nautical charts.
The main subject areas are geography, history, and ecnomics.
These materials can be consulted by appointment.
Sixteenth-Century Books
The Historical Collection holds 54 editions from the sixteenth century, published between 1532 and 1599.
Among the most valuable works are the Opera omnia of Bartolo da Sassoferrato, rare copies of the treatises by Giovanni Antonio Tagliente, several works on commerce, including Domenico Manzoni’s Libro mercantile, medical treatises by Andrea Vesalio and Pedanius Dioscorides, Giovio’s Historiae, and Giovan Battista Ramusio’s Delle navigationi et viaggi.
A further 43 sixteenth-century books are held in the other libraries in the area, bringing the total to 97 publications.
Seventeenth-Century Books
The Historical Collection comprises 84 editions from the seventeenth century, published between 1601 and 1699.
Among the notable seventeenth-century books are several atlases by Blaeu and Voogt; botanical works featuring hand-coloured engravings, such as the Hortus Indicus Malabaricus; rare treatises on arithmetic, accounting and commerce; political pamphlets; and literary, historical, medical and natural history works, including those from the library of the naturalist Giovanni Girolamo Zannichelli, as well as Joachim Hagemeier’s De imperio maris. Authors represented in the collection include Cicero, Montaigne, Sarpi and Francesco Sansovino.
Eighteenth-Century Books
The Historical Collection holds more than 1,000 editions from the eighteenth century, published between 1701 and 1799.
Among the eighteenth-century editions are a copy of La constitution de la République Française une et indivisible (1795), and the 18 volumes of Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie (1758–1776), as well as rare treatises on navigation, arithmetic, natural history and history. The collection includes works by authors such as Scipione Maffei, Michele Mercati, Pier Giovanni Capello, Antonio Vallisnieri, Giulio Pontedera, Antonio Genovesi, Giuseppe Parini, Cristoforo Tentori, Apostolo Zeno, Cesare Beccaria, Montesquieu and Antonio Muratori.
Nautical Charts and Manuscripts
Of particular value are the manuscript nautical charts and portolan charts held in the Historical Collection: Bartolomeu Olives’s Carta nautica del Mediterraneo (1538), on parchment, an example of the Renaissance tradition of nautical cartography; the manuscript Carta nautica of the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea by Alvise Gramolin (1612), which bears witness to the importance of Venice and its commercial and economic networks; and the four nautical atlases contained in Claes Janszoon Vooght’s De Nieuwe Groote Lichtende Zee-Fakkel (La nueva, y grande relumbrante antorcha de la mar / Della nuova, e grande illuminante face del mare) (1695–1704).
Also noteworthy are the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century manuscripts, including Pier Giovanni Capello’s Principi ovvero Massime regolatrici di commercio and Bartolomeo Dotti’s Satire, as well as several parchment fragments from ancient liturgical manuscripts, recovered during the restoration of the sixteenth-century edition of Bartolo da Sassoferrato’s Opera omnia.
These works may be consulted by appointment.
Special Collections
From the early twentieth century to the present day, Ca’ Foscari University has acquired numerous archival fonds and personal libraries belonging to faculty members, rectors and former students, through donations, bequests and purchases. These collections provide valuable evidence of the interests, activities and networks of their original owners. Individual volumes often contain annotations, inscriptions, notes and other materials that make these documents unique.
The University Library System preserves these collections across several locations.
Donations from the early rectors and faculty members of the former School of Commerce, up to the Second World War, are held in the Special Collections section, managed by the Historical Collection office. More recent bequests and acquisitions are held in the area libraries, in accordance with the wishes and provisions expressed by the donors.
You can find the list and the description of special collections at Fondo storico page [ITA].
Consultation and loan
To consult or borrow the documents of the Historical Collection you must reserve them because they must be specifically taken from the repositories.
Requests for consultation/loan of volumes from the Historical Collection should be sent through MOBI application by filling the Richiesta libri/riviste a deposito form:
- Ca' Foscari university members: use this form [ITA]
- non-university members: use this form [ITA]
If the documents are available, you can arrange for consultation/loan with the office.
2024/2026 three-year plan for the enhancement of the Historical Fund
The plan collects the programming of events for the valorization of Ca’ Foscari cultural heritage with the aim of making it accessible and usable to the whole community.
Last update: 02/10/2026