Biblioteca Palatina, Parma

The Palatina library was founded by Philip Bourbon in 1761 and was opened to the public in 1769. It originally had 40,000 volumes, and was later enlarged through donations and acquisitions, including some from the Fondo Orientale De Rossi, the private library of the dukes of Bourbon in Parma, and the Ortalli print collection. Today this famous library houses more than 700,000 volumes, 3000 very early printed works, 6600 manuscripts, 50,000 prints, and miniature codexes from the 11th-12th Centuries. The library has three rooms: the Sala dei Maria Luigia, the Sala Dante (with frescoes by Scaramuzza inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy), and the Galleria del Petitot with period shelving.