Inside Rome's Enlightenment Library

The Moroncelli terrestrial globe in Rome's Casanatense Library. (Image: Jeffrey Marlow) The Casanatense Library in central Rome is a mecca for scholars of the European enlightenment, possessing nearly half a million volumes on medicine, philosophy, literature, law, math, and science. Founded in 1701 by a Dominican monastic order, the library quickly gained a reputation for its extensive collection and cosmopolitan curation. As Casanatense cultural officer Simona Perugia explains, “the people who came to study in the library needed and expected the most recent and important books of knowledge." It was the internet of its time. Over the years, a wide range of knowledge-seekers has entered the monumental vaulted reading room. In his spiritual quest to understand The Story of God, which continues for four more weeks on the National Geographic Channel, Morgan Freeman recently stopped by to learn the truth behind “the number of the beast.” Kim Haines-Eitzen pieced together ...