Archivio Storico del Comune di Firenze (Historical Archive of the Municipality of Florence)
The archive contains all the documents produced and received by the Florentine administration from its establishment in 1781 to 1960.
Finding aids: ArchiFirenze and ArchiDis.
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivio dell’Istituto degli Innocenti di Firenze (Archive of the Innocenti Institute of Florence)
The historical archive of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital) of Florence (1218-1951) and the archive of the Innocenti Institute (1951- ) preserves documents on child care and on the properties and commissioned artwork of the institute.
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Archival holdings of the European Union Institutions; private papers of key European politicians; archives of pro-European movements and other organisations; interviews of European politicians and officials (The Oral History Project).
Intermediate/advanced level of French recommended for consultation.
Mediateca Toscana (Audiovisual Library of Tuscany)
Includes films, documentaries, books and periodicals on Cinema, TV and video production; Film posters and Film music. Special focus on productions made in Tuscany.
Finding aid: Centro di Documentazione.
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Fondazione Archivio Diaristico Nazionale di Pieve Santo Stefano (National Diary Archive of Pieve Santo Stefano)
Collects over 8.000 autobiographical documents, mainly diaries, letters and memoirs. Also a Museum, Piccolo museo del diario.
Finding aid: Archivio Diaristico Nazionale
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Museo del Tessuto di Prato (Textile Museum of Prato)
The library of the museum specializes in subjects such as raw materials for clothing, design, History of Fashion and Contemporary Textile Industry.
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivio di Stato di Firenze (State Archives of Florence)
Documents the history of Florence from the Republic to the Medici and Lorena Dutchies to the Reign and then Republic of Italy.
Finding aid: State Archives of Florence
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Fondi Archivistici dell'Università di Firenze (Archives of the University of Florence Library)
Documents the history of the University of Florence and of its Departments. (The library archives are subdivided by departmental areas, Humanities, Social Sciences, etc.)
Finding aid: Chartae
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivio dell’Istituto Ernesto de Martino (Archive of the Ernesto de Martino Institute)
Collection of audiovisuals, books, periodicals, photographs, posters, flyers and pamphlets, focusing on Italian ethnomusicology, folklore and oral history.
Finding aid (Library only): Istituto Ernesto de Martino
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivio dell'Istituto Storico Toscano della Resistenza e dell'Età contemporanea (Archive of the Tuscan Historical Institute of the Resistance)
Collection of clandestine newspapers and journals of partisan associations and private presses, photographs, testimonies, flyers and posters, documenting the Resistance movements to Nazi-fascism in Tuscany.
Finding aid: ToscanaNovecento
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Firenze in Guerra (‘Florence at War’ online exhibit)
Digital archive of documents, objects, images, voices, film footage, etc. pertaining to the city in wartime.
Oral history project: MemorySharing in Florence
Museo della Deportazione e della Resistenza di Prato (Museum of Deportation and Resistance of Prato)
Preserves the documents and testimonies of the deportation and popular resistance movements in Tuscany, with special focus on the communities in Prato that were deported to the Ebensee concentration camp in Austria.
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivio del Movimento di Quartiere di Firenze (Archive of the Florentine districts’ movements)
Preserves posters, cyclostyles, drawings, photos, pamphlets, periodicals, etc., from the private collections of the main protagonists of the district committees in Florence emerging from the aftermath of the 1966 flood and up to 1976.
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivio Istituto Gramsci Toscano (Archive of the Gramsci Institute in Tuscany)
The collection includes the documents of the Italian Communist Party in Tuscany from the ‘50s, of the Italian Women’s Union in Florence from the ‘40s, and of the Florentine Student Movements from the ‘70s.
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Biblioteca e archivio Franco Serantini di Pisa (‘Franco Serantini’ library and archive in Pisa)
Papers, posters, photographs and ephemera of the student (and other) protest movements based in Pisa and environs during the ‘60s-’70s.
Finding aid: Archiui Cultura
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Centro di studi politici e sociali e Archivio storico Il Sessantotto (Center of Social and Political Studies and historical archive of 1968)
The center and archive collect documents of militants of the New Left movements and parties in Florence and Tuscany, including books on anarchic movements, party newspapers and magazines, pamphlets, flyers and cyclostyled leaflets.
Blog: Archivio il Sessantotto
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
I luoghi del 68 a Firenze (Locations of the 1968 protests in Florence)
List of spots in Florence, including University departments and high schools, that were the main scenes of the 1968 protest movements. (Free geolocation app LAYAR, geolayer: 68.)
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Finding aid: Biblioteca IREOS (includes Arci Lesbica Firenze collection)
Finding aid: Centro di Documentazione di Azione Gay e Lesbica
Memorie e Migrazioni di Genova (Memory and Migration in Genova)
Museum and archive of letters, diaries, memoirs, photos and audiovisual pertaining to the history of emigration from and immigration to Italy.
Online database: Dal Porto al Mondo and exhibit: Racconti Migranti
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Museo Paolo Cresci per la Storia dell'Emigrazione Italiana (Italian Emigration Museum in Lucca)
Collection of correspondences, postcards, photographs, magazines, newspapers, books and personal objects of 19th and 20th centuries emigrants from Lucca and environs.
Finding aid: Archivio
Online exhibit: Online Museum of Italian Emigration
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare (Library and Archive of the Agronomic Institute for the Overseas)
Founded in 1904, it represents the oldest institute in Italy devoted to Agricultural studies of Tropical and sub-Tropical areas tied to the geographical explorations during Italy’s Colonial period. It is now a body of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The library includes a special collection of periodicals from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Libya.
Finding aid: Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo - Sede Firenze
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Centro Studi Aldo Palazzeschi (UniFi) (Aldo Palazzeschi study center of the University of Florence)
Letters, manuscripts and photographs of the florentine writer Aldo Palazzeschi associated for some time with the Futurist movement.
Finding aid: Archivio Palazzeschi
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivio della Fondazione Primo Conti (Archive of the Primo Conti Foundation)
Correspondences, manuscripts, drawings and photographs of some of the most prominent members of the avant-garde movements in Florence at the beginning of the 20th century, like the writer Giovanni Papini and the painter Primo Conti.
Finding Aid: Fondazione Primo Conti
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Archivi della Fondazione Giovanni Michelucci (Archive of the Giovanni Michelucci Foundation)
Documents relating to the work of architect Giovanni Michelucci, like sketches, designs, graphic art, photographs, scale models, films, posters, etc.
Intermediate/advanced level of Italian required for consultation.
Pro Firenze Futurista - Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz (Digital archive on Futurism in Florence by the German Institute of Art History in Florence)
Approximately 500 Futurist works and 40 newspapers usually restricted in the public libraries and collections in Florence they are kept in.
Finding aid: Database research
Biblioteca Nazionale 'Arno 66 - Time Travel' (National Library in Florence ‘Arno 66’ online exhibit)
Digital archive of photographs and other footage of the damage the 1966 flood made to the Biblioteca Nazionale.
Finding aid: Archivio fotografico
Elementary/Intermediate level of Italian required for consultation.
Cronaca di un "diluvio"! L'Istituto degli Innocenti e l'alluvione di Firenze del 1966 (The Innocenti Institute of Florence during the flood)
Online exhibit of the archival materials produced by the staff of the Innocenti Institute of Florence.
Università di Firenze La Bellezza Salvata. Firenze 1966-2016 (University of Florence, Beauty Preserved)
Online exhibit of a selection of works and artefacts from places - museums, collections, libraries, archives, places of worship - among the most affected by the tragic event.
The library of the Pecci Museum specializes in Modern and Contemporary Italian and international Art Movements, including in-house and external exhibition catalogs, journals, magazines and video. Their special collections consist of bequests and archives from major local and international actors in the art scene.
Finding aids: CID/Arti Visive (Books) CID/Arti Visive (Periodicals)
The museum focuses on Italian art of the first half of the 20th century and houses artwork by De Chirico, Severini, Morandi, Guttuso, among others. The Contemporary art scene in Florence is particularly represented by sections on 60s to 90s movements and avant-garde galleries and architecture studios.
Main venue for art exhibitions in Florence. Past exhibitions ranged from ancient art, Renaissance, Modern and Contemporary. Also hosts concerts, performance art, installations and theatre shows.
Residency of the ‘Villa Romana Prize’ for young German artists in Florence. It’s a contemporary art venue for international fellows and guest artists that organises various exhibitions and events.