A monumental multipurpose room aimed at making the Palatina Library a functional space in step with the times and an independent entrance for its direct and more suitable use. These are the spaces of the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta of Parma that are returned to the community of Parma, after years of neglect and degradation, following a major redevelopment project strongly desired by the Director of the Pilotta Simone Verde .
Presented to the public this morning as part of the VIII edition of I like Parma. Un patrimonio da vivere promoted on the occasion of the “FAI Autumn Days”, the Paciaudi Hall – named after the cultured Theatine Father Paolo Maria Paciaudi, the institution’s first librarian – is now the pulsating heart of the Palatina Library, one of the oldest institutions in the Complex with an inestimable book and documentary heritage, as well as the custodian of a unique collection of drawings and prints.
From today the public and scholars will be able to access the Palatina Library through an independent entrance , the result of the segmentation of a 17th century covered passage in a state of serious degradation and neglect, equipped with large windows designed by the architect Guido Canali that delimit the Paciaudi room. The new entrance thus allows a more suitable separation between the study area and the monumental area, avoiding mixing between users of the services and the visitors’ area.
“What we are presenting today is a significant redevelopment project – says Simone Verde, Director of the Monumental Complex of the Pilotta – aimed at restoring dignity to one of the oldest national institutes of collecting and culture as well as to the community of Parma. A further step forward in the construction of the image of the New Pilotta, increasingly oriented towards a contemporary and up-to-date enjoyment of cultural heritage”.
The spectacular volume that is the object of the intervention , designed in its time by the baroque architect Carlo Rainaldi and inspired by the triumphal passage with three naves that leads to the interior of Palazzo Farnese in Rome, becomes a multifunctional room at the service of the user , with the architectural appearance of a secular basilica, aimed at hosting the reception services as well as conferences pertaining to the scientific purposes of the institution. A completely renovated and welcoming space thanks also to the donation, by the Nicola Bulgari Foundation, of comfortable sofas reserved for the public.
Furthermore, the intervention will allow the Library – once all its staff is back in force – to offer its users longer opening hours than those of a museum, as well as to acquire greater visibility thanks to the direct entrance from the ground floor.
The idea of a separate entrance between the Library and the monumental part of the Complex reiterates an intent, never realized, hypothesized by the former mayor of Parma Giovanni Mariotti in 1894 , as evidenced by a letter he wrote to the public administration; even then, the aim was to transform these spaces into access to the Library as well as to intervene on the urban decorum and safety.