Headquarters and History

From a historical and artistic point of view, Palazzo Werdenberg ranks among the buildings of monumental importance. Its history is closely linked to that of the Jesuits, whose presence in Gorizia had been requested, as in many centres of the Habsburg Empire (Graz, Ljubljana), in the spirit and according to the directives of the Council of Trent, especially to provide education for the youth following the serious religious and spiritual crisis that affected both the clergy and the local population, who were not indifferent to the spread of Lutheranism throughout Europe.

Their settlement in Gorizia in 1615, after being expelled from the territories of the Republic of Venice, was made possible thanks to the donation by Baron Vito Dornberg of the Church of Saint John, together with an adjoining house, located in the street of the same name. Initially, the residence was also used as a seminary for a small number of students, as the Jesuits were actively engaged in the education and formation of the clergy.

Given the precarious situation, Baron Verda von Werdenberg intervened in 1629, allocating 22,000 florins for the perpetual maintenance of 24 poor seminarians and donating one of his buildings in Via San Giovanni to be adapted as a seminary. However, since the house was too far from the college and not sufficiently convenient, in 1634, again through the generous support of Baron de Werdenberg, a larger and closer residence was purchased from the nobleman Ambrogio Sembler.

The entire structure was almost completely rebuilt, enlarged through the addition of adjoining buildings, embellished, and finally completed in 1649. The palace presents a compact façade pierced by closely aligned windows along Via delle Scuole (today Via Mameli), while the side facing today’s Corso Verdi is softened by harmonious arcades with three orders of loggias overlooking the large internal courtyard.

Simple and sober, the palace achieves perfect harmony in its architectural lines and fully expresses the function for which it was built, allowing only the magnificent stuccoes at the top of the grand staircase — probably the work of Giovanni Pacassi, father of the architect Nicolò — to reflect the Baroque style.

After being reorganised and reopened in its current seat by the Piarist Fathers (1780–1810), and after suffering severe damage during the French occupation in 1810, with the Habsburg Restoration it became one of the six study libraries of the Austrian Monarchy (1822) and was opened to the public in 1825, retaining until 1914 the name and functions of the Regional Library of the Littoral (Venezia Giulia).

At the outbreak of the First World War, part of the library collections was transferred to Graz for safekeeping; the remainder, left on site, was damaged or destroyed. After Gorizia was occupied by Italian troops, whatever could be saved was transported to Florence, to the Biblioteca Laurenziana, where it remained until 1919, when the new State Library was established under the direction of Carlo Battisti. In 1925 it took the name “Governativa” and united in the same building both the Civic Library and the Provincial Library and Archive.

Once the war damage had been repaired, the institution returned to the tranquillity of Palazzo Werdenberg.

In 1941 the Provincial Library moved to Palazzo Attems, while the Civic Library (founded in 1888 by the Municipality of Gorizia and opened to the public in 1893) remained united with the State Library.

The Second World War and the subsequent German, Yugoslav and Anglo-American military occupations caused further serious damage to the institution, which nevertheless managed to recover energetically and adapt to changing needs.

In 1967 the Library assumed the name Biblioteca Statale Isontina and was entrusted with new and more important cultural responsibilities, as demonstrated both by the rapid and promising increase in the library’s holdings (which amounted to 446,044 volumes as of 30 September 2024) and in the number of visitors, as well as by its significant presence in the cultural life of the city through conferences, lectures, bibliographic exhibitions and art exhibitions.

Record no. 14 – The stuccoes of the former Werdenberg Seminary, p. 36 in Giovanna Ludovico, Francesco Castellan, Itinerari Pacassiani a Gorizia e nel Friuli goriziano, Gorizia, Associazione goriziana Amici dei musei, 1998, 39 pp., ill. (Inventory no. 211016 – Shelfmark: Misc ST PT i 658)

Fig. 2, p. 45 in Luigi Tavano, Jesuits, students and nobles in the “Historia Collegii Goritiensis”, pp. 35–60, “Studi Goriziani”, January–June 1996, vol. LXXXIII.

Other distinguishing features of its historical and artistic nobility are the vaulted arches found in several rooms and cellars on the ground and first floors, as well as the aforementioned loggias, capable of creating evocative views both inside and outside the building, framed by two gardens, one of which recalls the ancient botanical garden of the Imperial-Royal Austrian Gymnasium.

In March 1995 the extensive cycle of structural and technological restoration works, begun at the end of 1988, was completed. These interventions renewed Palazzo Werdenberg, giving it solidity and elegance and adapting it to the functions of a modern library, with expanded spaces and the opening of new services.

Catia Michielan
Restorer, Superintendence for Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage of Friuli Venezia Giulia

Antonella Facchinetti
Restorer, Eucore sas, Pavia di Udine

Chiara Bettuzzi
Architect, Director of Works