Zelantea library of Acireale
Zelantea Library and Art Gallery, founded in 1671, is a municipal library and art gallery in the city of Acireale. It is housed in a neoclassical-style building designed at the beginning of the twentieth century by Mariano Panebianco, an Acese architect.
The origins of Zelantea are linked to the foundation of two cultural institutions, which originally had an exclusively ecclesiastical nature: that of the Accademia degli Zelanti and that of the Studio Fathers. The Fathers of the Study and the academics met in the same place and, despite belonging to two distinct institutions, they had the same purpose, that is to promote and disseminate culture. Then, in 1834 it was joined to the congregation of the Fathers of the Study and in 1934 to the eighteenth-century Academy of the Daphnics. Furthermore, by decree of the President of the Republic, Zelantea took on its current name and a new statute in 1936.
The part of the Zelantea intended as a museum houses an eighteenth-century carriage of the Senate of Acireale, the Bust of Caesar from the Republican age, a tricolor flag from the Risorgimento period and a collection of Greek-Roman finds from the excavation area of Santa Venera al Pozzo.
The actual Zelantea library holds over 106,000 volumes, approximately 1,650 magazine titles in progress and discontinued, for a total of over 143,000 magazine issues. The bibliographic heritage exceeds 250,000 units. In addition, the Library preserves an ancient collection of over 56,000 volumes.
The Zelantea Art Gallery houses 17th-19th century paintings, works by Domenichino, Guercino, the school of Matteo Ragonisi, Alessandro Vasta, Michele La Spina and many others.
