UN PATRIMONIO LIBRARIO DA DISVELARE. IL FONDO STORICO DELLA BIBLIOTECA DEL CONVITTO GIACOMO LEOPARDI DI MACERATA

School libraries of historical interest, characterized by a book collection of significant quantitative and qualitative value, represent an extraordinary field of investigation. This is true not only in terms of the history of ideas and educational models but also regarding school memory and historical-educational heritage. Indeed, analyzing the catalogs of major school book collections allows us, on one hand, to trace the pedagogical canons that shaped a specific educational reality; on the other, it permits us to engage with true "places of memory" that often preserve traces of those who passed through them in various capacities, thus becoming an expression of a community's very identity.

This dual interpretive key emerges clearly from the study of the historical book collection of the Giacomo Leopardi Boarding School (Convitto) in Macerata. This volume aims to investigate this heritage through various lenses: from the historical-institutional to the authorial; from literary genres and typographical data to a still-unexplored field in historical-educational studies—extra-textual notes. Furthermore, it adopts a research perspective gaining significant traction in both academia and the public eye: the public history of education.

The intent of the essays collected in this publication is precisely to bring to light the various souls that characterize school libraries of historical significance, highlighting their heuristic potential and, simultaneously, their intrinsic value within a narrative web where history, memory, and heritage are seamlessly interwoven.​