Padua Museum Preserves Smallest Book and Historic Art Collection

It is said to be the smallest book in the world, with dimensions of just 15 by 9 millimeters. Printed in Padua in 1897 by Salmin, it consists of 206 pages and is a letter from Galileo Galilei to Cristina Lorena.

It is part of the legacy of Senator Ugo da Como, who in 1941 donated the house of the Podestà—the building that hosts the collection—to the foundation bearing his name. The collection includes 217 paintings from the 1400s to the 1800s, glassware, branches, and a library with 52,000 volumes, including 405 incunabula, 2,000 incunabula editions, and 5,000 manuscripts.