The Mediobanca historical library opens its doors. In the office that saw the founder Enrico Cuccia at work, upon reservation and under the watchful eye of a video camera, it will be possible to consult the 12.250 volumes made available by the institute.
For the most part (12.047) these are books given on free loan from the family of the well-known jurist, as well as president and author of the syndicate agreement of the Bank, Ariberto Mignoli, who died in 2003. The rest (203) are volumes received free from Cuccia and Vincenzo Maranghi and belonging to the institute. The initiative was illustrated by Fulvio Coltorti, director emeritus of Mediobanca's research office, together with Giorgio La Malfa, president of the scientific committee of the institute's historical area. Mariapia Frigerio, Sergio Scotti Camuzzi, Renata Broggini and Gian Arturo Ferrari also took part.
"This day - underlined the managing director Alberto Nagel - is the completion of a journey that began 10 years ago, a project that allows us to continue to remember the figure of a unique person like Mignoli".
Of the collected volumes, 4.507 are ancient books (published before 1830) and 515 are very rare. Among the contents, elzeviri, short stories, weddings, Italian and foreign classics, history of Venice, theatre, geography, cross-sections of social life in the 1800s and 1900s. And again, among the economics texts: the Meditations by Pietro Verri, six volumes by Giammaria Ortes, Genoese trade lessons and many other Italian and foreign classics. The catalog can be consulted at www.bibliotecastoricamediobanca.it, followed by the Mediobanca Study Area, where you can book to view the requested works.
“It is important, as Mignoli said, to innovate without improvisation – concluded Nagel -, to innovate knowing what our history is, that is, that the structures of our capitalism are the result of Italian history, they must be placed in the period in which they were produced and with history they must evolve”.
