Foresiana Library in Portoferraio

The origin of the Library is linked to the name of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, leaving the island to head towards the end of his imperial adventure, donated his private library to the citizens of Portoferraio. At the time, it consisted of about 2,000 volumes. Before his departure into exile, Napoleon had selected about 1,000 volumes from the two libraries of the Fontainebleau Castle, including works on history, literature (including the first history of French literature by Lycée), military art, geography, legislation, Greek and Latin classics. During his ten months in exile, he also had sent to him by his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, another hundred books, including a Bible in 17 volumes, and more from the Military Genius and publishers in Livorno, Genoa, and Civitavecchia.

As soon as Napoleon left the island, Mayor Traditi took care of the library, which was cataloged and, by the summer of 1815, opened to the public. After the defeat of Waterloo, the return of the volumes to their previous owners, the transfer of works from one place to another with the subsequent loss and theft of volumes, the original nucleus (now kept inside the Palazzina dei Mulini) was reduced by about 1,000 units.

With the Unification of Italy, the Municipality of Portoferraio and the Ministry of Public Education worked to establish a rich Municipal Library around the important Napoleonic library collection, and for this purpose, they asked intellectuals, citizens, and institutions to donate books. Many responded to the appeal, including General Giuseppe Garibaldi, who sent pamphlets given to him by patriots, and the humanist Mario Foresi, who donated 14,000 volumes of great historical and cultural value, and to whom, not coincidentally, the library owes its name.

Today, in addition to the historical collections from the Napoleonic core, the precious 16th-century volumes in the Foresi collection, signed books by authors such as D'Annunzio, and the Roster (creator of the Ottone Botanical Garden) and Reiter (who contributed important works on the Napoleonic Empire and World War I) collections, the Foresiana Library also has a section entirely dedicated to Elba and the Tuscan Archipelago and ancient newspapers that recount the past events of the island and its citizens.