The scholar Guido Zucchini (but he was much more than that), in an article he wrote in 1952, updating a former text from 1928, described all the GUIDES OF BOLOGNA preserved at the Archiginnasio Library.
All scholars of the artistic history of Bologna know shelf IX of shelf R of room 17 of the Municipal Library. A very large row of small books neatly line up on the shelf. The first on the left is dated 1675 and gradually the others get closer to our age.
(Guido Zucchini, Le guide di Bologna, «Strenna storica bolognese», 1928)
Zucchini's work remains unsurpassed and is still consulted by scholars today. This is why our colleagues at the Archiginnasio Library decided to create an exhibition of the volumes dedicated to the visitors of Bologna, to digitize them and make them available to the public on the Library website, which also collects and displays the covers of the books that have guided generations of travellers around Bologna from the 17th century to the present day.
Enjoy your journey!
Digitizations by Enrica Nanetti and Claudia Barbieri.
Online exhibition: Marilena Buscarini and Rita Zoppellari
https://www.archiginnasio.it/exhibition/guide-di-bologna/le-guide-dell-archiginnasio