Gallipoli Municipal Library

Its origin is owed to Canon and Chapter Dean Carmine Fontò, who in 1823, through a public act, donated his library of about three thousand volumes to the city of Gallipoli, a city with a cultural tradition spanning more than a millennium.

Subsequently, the collection was enriched by the substantial donation made by the noble scholar Bartolomeo Ravenna, whose private library comprised historical, scientific, literary, and artistic works.

The Library’s holdings also include about 1,000 volumes from the ancient collection, now housed at the Barba museum, where all texts concerning the history, culture, and economy of Gallipoli are kept. This collection features incunabula, manuscripts, as well as works from the 16th and 17th centuries that were acquired following the suppression of the Dominican, Capuchin, and Reformed monasteries, in addition to the collections of Ettore Vernole, Sebastiano Natali, and Giuseppe Duma.

There is also a fiction collection and a children’s collection, consisting of about 3,000 volumes.

In addition to being home to a vast literary heritage, the library is an important reference point for the understanding of Salento culture, and it promotes numerous initiatives including exhibitions, book presentations, conferences, and symposiums.