On 3rd March 1818 Ugo Foscolo exiled in England wrote to Quirina Mocenni: «Qui non hanno pubbliche biblioteche». His complaint, voiced in what would be the birthplace of public libraries in Europe, was justified because at the time in London there was no institute as such, aside from the largely incomplete (and at any rate differently aimed) British Museum. On the other hand, though it is not so well documented, Foscolo was familiar with the Italian libraries created between the sixteenth and...
