Special Collections

The collection was donated by the Institut Ramon Llull in Barcelona, an organisation dedicated to promoting Catalan language and culture. It includes a wide range of modern materials, from dictionaries and grammars to critical studies and monographs on Catalan literature. 

The collection comprises around 200 monographs and features significant works in linguistics and literature, as well as sociology and geography, including volumes on Aboriginal culture and the influence of immigration in Australia.

The collection consists of 1,616 volumes from the former Austrian Cultural Institute, which were donated to the University of Milan in 2002. It mainly includes critical studies and monographs on modern and contemporary Austrian literature, along with selected works on Austrian culture, art, and history.

This collection documents the literary phenomenon of the first three decades of twentieth-century Spain, specifically that of popular magazines and periodical publications of short novels (novela corta). This genre played a crucial role in the renewal of illustration as an art form in Spain.

This collection includes literary, linguistic, historical, and artistic works related to the cultures of the Basque Country and Galicia. It features numerous works in Basque (Euskera) and Galician. The collection houses donations from the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Secretaría Xeral de Política Lingüística of the Xunta de Galicia.

This collection consists of volumes in English, donated by the British Council in Milan, and is dedicated to the literature of the United Kingdom.

The Camões Collection was established between the 1990s and 2000s thanks to contributions from the Instituto Camões in Lisbon. The collection consists of rare or hard-to-find books, at least in Italy, and includes over 1,300 monographs. 

The collection was donated by Alda Castagnoli Manghi, formerly a professor of Nordic Languages and Literatures at “La Sapienza.” It comprises around 400 volumes covering the entire Scandinavian region, including critical studies and literary works, some of which are rare 19th-century editions. The collection is currently being catalogued.

The collection, consisting of around 500 monographs, includes texts in French and works on French literature and culture from the vast personal library of Manlio Castiglioni, an eclectic intellectual, passionate about mountaineering and philosophy, who for several years served as the director of the Italian Touring Club.

This collection consists of materials from the former Centre for the Study of the United States in Milan. It comprises over 10,000 volumes in English, dedicated to the study of American literature, art, and history.

The collection includes part of the personal library of Giorgio Dolfini (1927-1983), Professor of German Language and Literature, philologist and literary scholar. It contains 185 monographs on German philology and linguistics, with many rare texts published mainly in the 1950s and 1960s.

Part of a wider collection distributed across various university libraries, this collection holds 1,596 monographs, primarily dedicated to French literature, but also covering English, German, Spanish, and Russian literary traditions.

The collection, donated by the Goethe-Institut, primarily consists of German-language volumes covering literary and culture studies in German-speaking countries. It also includes works on philosophy, history, social sciences, visual arts, and theatre. 

The collection comprises the personal library of Professor Hedvig Agda Margareta Giordano Lokrantz (1935-2004), a scholar of Nordic languages and literatures, comparative literature, and medieval Latin. The collection currently holds 354 monographs. 

The collection comprises a selection from the personal library of Professor Scaramuzza Vidoni, formerly Professor of Spanish Literature. An esteemed scholar of Miguel de Cervantes, she was also a friend of Clara Janés and a specialist in her work. 

The dollection consists of 3,627 volumes on various Slavic studies disciplines, donated by the family of Bruno Meriggi (1927-1970), a renowned Italian Slavist and founder of Slavic Studies at the University.

Comprising monographs and serials of significant literary and historical interest, this collection is what remains of the holdings of the Russian Library of Milan. Founded in the early twentieth century by a group of Russian exiles, the library expanded further after 1917.