Description

Formerly the library of the Episcopal Seminary of Sulmona, the history of this library is linked to canon Don Virgilio Orsini, scholar and historian, who in the 1960’s worked with great commitment in the purchase of the volumes that are kept here, even at his own expense. Over time the original collection was enlarged with donations by organisations and individuals, who have ensured that the collection of books has become more and more distinct.


The volumes, all carefully filed, were initially housed within the Bishop's Palace. After a period of closure that lasted for several years, the library reopened in December 2002 in the new premises, inside the Civic Diocesan Cultural Centre of Santa Chiara, which had been set up in several rooms of the former convent. The reading room is located in the old sitting room of the Poor Clares which features latticed openings - the only area of ​​the convent in which the once cloistered community would have been in contact with the outside world.


Its management was entrusted to the staff of the then Superintendent of the BSAE of Abruzzo, according to an agreement signed between them, the Diocese of Sulmona-Valva and the City of Sulmona.  The library is now named after its founder Don Virgilio Orsini.