Special collections

Fondo Vallombrosa

This collection was originally curated by Adolfo di Berenger, first director of the Royal Institute of Forestry sciences (Regio Istituto forestale di Vallombrosa): it derives from the library of this institute, which was the first national school of forestry sciences established in 1869 in the Vallombrosa abbey. In 1913 it moved to Cascine, its current location, and in 1936 the Institute became the faculty of Agricultural and forestry sciences of Florence University.

Fondo Serpieri

It encompasses the working and studying material of Arrigo Serpieri. From 1912 Arrigo Serpieri was director of the National forestry Institute (Istituto forestale nazionale), which later became the faculty of Agricultural sciences. The collection includes more than 2700 documents, monographs, journal issues, pamphlets on subjects such as economy, agronomy, politics, history of agriculture, mostly published in the first half of the 20th century.

Fondo Maugini

Armando Maugini was director of the Italian Colonial Institute (Istituto Coloniale italiano) from 1924 to 1964 and from 1933 professor of Tropical agriculture and Agrarian tropical economy at the University of Florence. The collection was donated to the library by the heirs in 1985. It encompasses 1648 documents, with a particular focus on the fascist era and italian colonies in Africa.