Montichiari Archives Catalogued: Lechi Collection Adds Over 1,000 Documents to Library

The Lechi Collection has been catalogued and presented on Friday, September 5 at 7 p.m. at the Lechi Museum Library in Montichiari, during the “Night of Culture” event. The work was explained by Alberto Bettinazzi, coordinator of the Brescia Est Library System: more than 1,000 already processed documents from the decades-long family collection have been added to the holdings of the Civica Library “Giovanni Treccani degli Alfieri,” making them available to the public.

Bettinazzi said the project connects two different library models: a private, specialist origin focused on restoring the family’s artistic heritage—previously broken up over time—with the democratic, community-based role of a public reading library. He described this as a “virtuous shortcut” between broad access and deeper study, arguing that moving a private collection into a public institution prevents it from being lost in private settings or dispersed through the antiquarian market.

In Brescia, libraries have operated as a network for at least four decades through the Rete Bibliotecaria Bresciana, which serves more than 170,000 active users each year, involves over 300 public libraries, provides online access to more than 6 million documents, and includes support from 700+ library professionals, as well as the MediaLibraryOnLine digital service. The Lechi volumes have now been integrated by building a detailed catalogue record for each item, so users can search them online alongside the rest of the Treccani degli Alfieri collections.
Italian Version