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The Manno Fund completes the picture provided by the Valerio Fund, of which it shares, with less breadth, the historical field.
It's not actually a collection with historiographical value, but essentially autographic, as intended by the owner, Baron Giuseppe Manno.
Brilliant lawyer of an ancient Sardinian family, born in Alghero in 1786 and died in Turin in 1868, father of the authoritative historian Antonio, Giuseppe Manno was secretary of Carlo Felice, and president of the Senate from 1849 to 1855, then from 1859 minister of state. His greatest work is the Storia della Sardegna dai più antichi tempi alla morte di Carlo Emanuele III (1825-27), followed in 1842 by the Storia moderna della Sardegna dall'anno 1775 al 1799.
Possessed of a good humanistic culture, Manno knew French and English and knew how to play the violin.
The papers of his archive and those relating to his son Antonio are divided between the Historical Library "Giuseppe Grosso", the Library of the Regional Council of Sardinia in Cagliari, the Municipal Library of Sassari, the State Archives of Turin and, still in Turin, the Royal Library.
The Fund in possession of the Historical Library contains letters of various characters, including historians, writers, politicians, scientists. Examples include Count Federigo Sclopis, Amedeo Avogadro, Carlo Botta, Angelo Brofferio, Camillo Cavour, Luigi Cibrario, James Hudson, Silvio Pellico, Giovanni Plana, Carlo Promis, Urbano Rattazzi, Prospero Viani, Giampietro Viesseux, René de Chateaubriand. Among the curiosities also a letter from Dora of Istria, that duchess Helena Koltsova-Massalskaya, born Elena Ghika, considered the Mary Shelley of Eastern Europe.
Archive inventory (pdf 475 KB)