Library Book Heritage


“Giacomo Longo” Library's book heritage, always increasing, amounts to about 500.000 bibliographic units including about 2.062 manuscripts, 423 XV cent. editions, 3.638 XVI cent. editions, 107 parchments, a iconographic collection of 501 rare prints of great value, 2.525 historical postcards and 1.833 photographs; monographs, journals, a collection of about 1.800 multimedia, audio and audiovisual books and 21 biography files on microfiche.

Among the several valuable collections, gifted or purchased by “G. Longo” Library, we can find those of La Corte Cailler and Lorenzo Deodato (about local history); of Letterio Lizio Bruno, Polimeni, Vittorio Di Paola; the books of the Catanese architect Sada; the bookseller Cannarozzo collection; Stagno Belardelli's family manuscript music; part of the private library of the Messinese great jurist and intellectual Salvatore Pugliatti; Antonino Bongiovanni school collection and many others.
Periodicals amount to 2.884, 461 still being printed.
Particularly important is the Messano - Calabrese collection, including about 13.400 volumes. This collection is growing annually and is highly demanded by scholars for the rarity of its works, precious sources for the history of the city and its territory.

Rich in over 3.600 texts is the Musical Collection, annually increased with directories, essays and historical works.

This Library receives, for legal deposit, the fourth copy of each publication edited in Messina and its province.

Since 1991 it collaborates with the National Library Service (SBN) and with the other Sicilian Libraries. All the works acquired by this Library since 1986, have been included into the national database freely accessible by users.