On Wednesday 2 December at 11.30am the Nuova Manica Lunga will officially be presentedd. The extension is the new heart of the restyled user services in the Giorgio Cini Foundation library complex. Giovanni Bazoli, Massimo Cacciari, Roberto Cecchi, Renata Codello, Michele De Lucchi will take part to the event.

After refurbishing work, the Manica Lunga (the monumental space of the former dormitory of the Benedictine fathers), originally designed by Giovanni and Andrea Buora, has finally been restored for use by the general public.

The architectural and redevelopment project for the spaces was undertaken by Michele De Lucchi, the winner of an international competition held in 2005. He was then commissioned to refurbish the Manica Lunga for its new use. De Lucchi’s design has given shape to an open-plan multidisciplinary space making available to users the invaluable materials, often not found elsewhere, in a facility created according to the latest and highest international standards of library economics.

The opening of the Nuova Manica Lunga, the ideal piazza of the new Vittore Branca International Center for the Study of Italian Culture, means that the services offered by the Giorgio Cini Foundation libraries to the scholarly community can now rely on a total of over 500 linear metres of books on open shelving; a reception and reference area, a space for multimedia consultation; photocopying services; an Internet connection; and rooms for meetings and conferences. The Giorgio Cini Foundation library possessions include sections on the history of Venice, literature, music, theatre and opera, relations between Venice and the East, and relations between Venice and Europe. The most significant section, however, is undoubtedly that dedicated to the history of art, which has over 150,000 books and collections of periodicals (around 800 titles, of which over 200 are current titles).

The project was made possible thanks to a contribution from Telecom Italia.