The Central Military Library originates from the "Library of the Royal Corps of the General Staff and the Topography" that was instituted in Turin in 1814 by the King of Sardinia Vittorio Emanuele I. In the following years other important libraries were built such as the Library of the Artillery Royal Corp in 1815 and the Library of the Engineer Corp in 1836. But the library of the General Staff was considered the most important until 16th March 1854 when the Minister of War La Marmora ordered to join the three libraries mentioned above in a single library, calling it Special Arms Library. In 1859 its name was changed into Military Library "for the benefit of the all Officers in Turin, all the teachers of the Military Schools, the Non-Commissioned Officers of any Corps and the civilian employees of the Military Administration".
Later, after the proclamation of the Unification of Italy in 1865, the Military Library was moved to Florence at the Military Geographic Institute. In 1871 the books were sent to Rome where, at first, they were preserved in the Palace of "Dogana Vecchia"; then in 1880 they were preserved at Giustiniani Palace, in 1884 at Ruspoli Palace and in 1888 in the Palace of the Ministry of War that is today the Army Palace.
In that period in Rome there were five military libraries; the library from Florence, the library of the Ministry of war, the Library of the District, the Library of the Inspectorate of Military Health and finally the Library of the Artillery and Engineer Inspectorate. By Decree of 27th September 1891, General Luigi Pelloux (Minister of War in that period) ordered that since 1st November the Libraries were joined in the single Central Military Library. Only the Library of the Artillery and Engineer Inspectorate was excluded from the merger and, starting from 1914, it became an independent library with the name of "Artillery and Engineer Library".