In 1907 Marquis Bernardo Pianetti gave his famous and rich library, whose origins date back to some centuries ago, to the municipality of Jesi.
That’s how his nephew Cardolo Maria Pianetti, who wanted to be admitted to the Academy of Almorò Albrizzi in Venice, introduced himself: “ a scientist in human, erudite, philosophical, mathematical studies, an expert in law.. he owns in Jesi a prestigious library which consists of rare books relating all sciences. It was inherited by his uncle Monsignor Giuseppe Pianetti, Bishop of Todi” ( 1708).
This collection of books, inherited under the condition that it would be destined to public use, reflects his uncles’ vast human and juridical knowledge. He was the actual book collector of the Pianetti family. In order to make the library public, which meanwhile was further enriched by two collections belonging to his wife Susanna Mannelli ( mainly books about Latin and Greek classical books and books about law, history, geography and travels) and to another uncle, Carlo Maria Bishop of Larino, who was Giuseppe’s brother, Cardolo Maria had in 1738 a unique manuscript catalogue drawn up, which was handwritten by the Franciscan Friars Minor of the Observance of the San Francesco Convent in Ancona.
The library consists of about 15,000 books, most of which date back to the 16th and 17th century and of famous editions printed in Venice, Rome, Padua, Paris, Lyon, Basel, Cologne, Frankfurt, London. There are also 16 incunabula, most part of which are about classical literature. Worth mentioning is the vast collection of gazettes written between 1655 and 1723 and a collection of 17th and 18th century almanacs.
This wide-ranging library was further increased in 1787 by other bequeathals by Bishop Gaspare Bernardo Pianetti, Bishop of Viterbo, which was later donated in 1905 to the municipality of Jesi by Bernardino Pianetti. Nowadays these assets and the Pianetti archives make up one of the most significant collections of documents in the Planettiana Library.
The seat of the municipal Planettiana Library is the impressive Palazzo della Signoria, a Renaissance palace built in Jesi by Francesco di Giorgio Martini, the famous Sienese architect, in Colocci Square, right at the center of the historical centre. This palace was built between 1486 and 1498. The tower was later partly rebuilt in 1661 due to the 1657 earthquake which destroyed it. It features a characteristic watch which is in the tower, whose machine was built brand new in 1939 by the watchmaker Edoardo Marconi from the Marche. The old time machine which was in the tower had been made I 1723 by a Venetian builder whose name was Antonius Molinarius, as an inscription in the frame machine documents.
At the second floor of the palace, in the room where the rare and valuable Pianetti library collection is located, you can also admire two wonderful globes dating back to the end of the 17th century. Their circumference measures more than 3 metres and they were made by the Venetian cosmographerVincenzo Coronelli.