From the book to the inventory and vice versa: the many roads that lead to the reconstruction of the ancient libraries. The case of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome

Identifying the book heritage of a library that no longer exists is a goal that can be achieved through many research paths. Ancient inventories, letters, testaments, travel stories constitute countless sources from which to draw important information on the book collections of the past. But that’s not all: leafing through the pages of a manuscript or a printed book, we can identify countless clues that testify to the use and origin of the volume. For the reconstruction of the library of the Augustinian convent of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, which was dismembered during the 19th century, all these research paths must be investigated. A small number of sixteenth-century descriptions allows us to understand which authors and texts were present in the library of the Augustinian friars. Ownership inscriptions, coats of arms, and wills tell us who decided to donate their books to the Church. The travel stories of European intellectuals tell us what visiting one of the most important libraries in the city meant for a scholar of the sixteenth century. Virtually repositioning the books on the shelves of the convent library also means allowing the researcher to understand the real life of a cultural institution of great importance. Which scholars used the library? What books formed the minds of the major intellectuals of papal Rome? We can try to answer these questions by reconstructing the library of Santa Maria del Popolo, an important piece of the cultural landscape of the city