The Library

​​​The constitution of this important collection of more than 75,000 volumes dates back to the Unification of Italy and in particular to the Chambèry Military Library of the Savoy Royal Family.

This capital merges with the Praesidium capital, preserved until 1920 in Cusani Palace that is the historical head office of the military commanders of Milan and it testifies the will to increase the Officers’ culture.

In 1935 the Military School was reopened and after three years Adolfo Casanova (an industrialist from Melzo) gave his precious collection to our School, in order to “give the Cadets the possibility to study in depth and complete their cultural and military preparation…”.

In 1935 the Military School was reopened and after three years Adolfo Casanova (an industrialist from Melzo) gave his precious collection to our School, in order to “give the Cadets the possibility to study in depth and complete their cultural and military preparation.

The Library includes some old manuscripts such as: a collection of notarial documents of 1407 related to S.Paul Church in Pistoia; rare incunabulum; more than 200 sixteenth-century works, among which an “Aldina”; 400 seventeenth-century works; 2,000 eighteenth-century volumes; an edition of 1844 of “The monuments of Egypt and Nubia” by Ippolito Rosellini in three volumes. The eighteenth-century collection also includes 18 volumes with ruined bindings that highlight sad events occurred in 1943 when the German troops devastated the barracks and probably exported the golden bindings.

Later the Library was moved to Cremona and some volumes were lost while others without important engravings and frontispieces that could maybe sell on the antiquarian market.