Special Collections
Special Collections
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
1.1 Library
Biblioteca della Fondazione Carlo e Marise Bo
1.2 Collection name
Carlo Maria Ossola
1.3 Biographical notes
Born in Turin (1946) Carlo Maria Ossola was an Italian literary critic and professor of Italian Literature at the Universities of Geneva (1976–82), Padua (1982–88), and Turin (1988–1999). Since 2000, he has held the Chair of Modern Literatures of Neo-Latin Europe at the Collège de France in Paris. He was also co-director of the journals Lettere Italiane and Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa; a member of the Accademia dei Lincei since 1995; and a member of the Scientific Council of the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Moreover, from 2007 to 2016, he served as Director of the Institute of Italian Studies at the Università della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano and since 2019, he has been the Scientific Director of the Carlo and Marise Bo Foundation in Urbino.
For twenty years, he directed the High Culture courses of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, publishing volumes with Vittore Branca. He studied deeply the tradition of literary institutions in schools in works such as Brano a brano. L’antologia di italiano nella scuola media inferiore (1978). Together with Cesare Segre, he co-edited the Antologia della poesia italiana (3 vols., 1997–99) for the “Pléiade” Einaudi-Gallimard series. For the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, he directed the “Classici Ricciardi” series and edited the volume Libri d’Italia. 1861–2011 (2011). He also directed the “Classici Treccani. I grandi autori della letteratura italiana” series, for which he edited the volumes D. Alighieri, Commedia (2011) and A. Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (2012). Among his most recent works are: Il continente interiore (2010); Introduzione alla Divina Commedia (2012); Erasmo nel notturno d’Europa (2015); Italo Calvino. L’invisibile e il suo dove (2016); Europa ritrovata. Geografie e miti del vecchio continente (2017); Nel vivaio delle comete. Figure di un’Europa a venire (2018); Trattato delle piccole virtù and Dopo la gloria. I secoli del credere in Occidente (2019); Per domani ancora. Vie di uscita dal confino (2020); Personaggi della Divina Commedia (2021). In 2021, he also edited the bilingual edition of the Divina Commedia for the “La Bibliothèque de la Pléiade” series published by Gallimard and authored its commentary. Since 2024, he has been President of the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani.
1.4 Date and methods of acquisition
The Ossola Collection was donated by Professor Ossola himself to the University of Urbino on May 31, 2019, by resolution no. 165/2019 of the Board of Administration.
1.5 Collection history
This collection reflects the interests and academic career of Professor Ossola and his extensive research and teaching activities. The most prominent subjects include Italian literature and literary criticism, along with significant contributions in philosophy and theology. The library arrived in Urbino in several installments. The first batch came from the Collège de France in Paris (1,912 volumes), which included a smaller book collection previously owned by Professor Ossola and gifted to him by Professor Weinrich, known as the “Weinrich Collection” (143 monographs). Professor Ossola also received the small library of scholar Marc Fumaroli, a philologist and historian of French literature, consisting of 66 items.
1.6 Collection increase
Open collection. It currently consists of approximately 3,700 catalogued items.
1.7 Collection indexing
The collection was donated already sorted by disciplinary areas, although it lacked an inventory list. The catalogue is now accessible through the National Library System (opac.sbn.it) and the SBN Marche Nord Network
bibliomarchenord.it/SebinaOpac;sba.uniurb.it/SebinaOpac.
1.8 Collection accessibility
The OPAC catalogue is accessible online at https://sba.uniurb.it/home-page and on open shelves: it is available and it has been fully inventoried and catalogued.
2. DESCRIPTION
2.1 Extent
The collection currently consists of approximately 3,653 monographic units. Professor Ossola is expected to send the remaining materials in due course. The collection is still being completed.
Dedications
Many volumes include dedications from their authors, who gifted their works to the professor upon publication.
So far, 518 dedications have been identified. These have been digitized and linked to each book’s catalog entry and made visible online via OPAC.
2.2 Description identifier, organization, and placement
The collection is divided into six major thematic sections, indicated by the following identifiers:
FO-AR: General Arts (400 units)
FO-CG: General reference works (190 units)
FO-FTO: Works related to the thought, life, and work of Carlo Ossola (118 volumes)
FO-LL: Italian and foreign language and literature (1,849 volumes)
FO-SSO: Social sciences (320 volumes)
FO-SU: comprende unità bibliografiche che riguardano le scienze umane (776 volumi)
2.3 State of conservation
Well preserved.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND DOCUMENTATION
3.1 Bibliography and documentation
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/carlo-ossola/
https://www.accademiadellescienze.it/member/da2b354e-e770-4cab-877d-062f4ea010b8
4. NOTES
4.1 Special notes and reports
Some books stand out for the numerous small slips of paper used as bookmarks by the scholar—an indication of the careful attention and in-depth study devoted to these volumes.
Moreover, many books included a clipping from the envelope used to ship the volume, indicating the sender. These details have been recorded in the bibliographic notes during cataloguing, and each envelope fragment has been preserved and attached to the respective book.
The story of the transfer of the collection from the Collège de France in Paris to Urbino is recorder in the volume:
Carlo Ossola, Entrez sans frapper, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2025.
PERMALINK TO THE CATALOGUE
Accedi al catalogo
COMPLIER'S NAME
Francesca Palmieri