Renato Maestro library opened in 1981 in Venice’s historic Jewish ghetto. The library was established to promote the written and archival heritage of the Jewish community of Venice, in fulfillment of the vision expressed in the will of the late Renato Maestro. The library is intended to help spread knowledge of Jewish civilization and culture, particularly as to the Jews of Venice and Italy.
Through the financial support of the Veneto region, the library relocated in 1991 to a new modern facility near the Venice Jewish museum, adding to the landscape of libraries in Venice.
Today
The library offers assistance to scholars and specialists in their archival research. The library makes available its vast collections of history, religion, fiction, periodicals, ancient books, and a rich video library. It also maintains almost 600 archival files, collected with the contribution of the municipality of Venice, the Veneto region and the Libraries and Archives Service Bureau of the Veneto region.
The library’s catalogue lists 10,000 titles in Italian, English, French, German and Hebrew. The collections include 2,500 Hebrew volumes dating from the XVI to the XIX century, C.E. The library currently subscribes to 35 periodicals, but its collections includes about 100.