The Archival and Bibliographic Superintendency of Liguria

The Archival and Bibliographic Superintendency of Liguria is one of the peripheral departments of the Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali e per il turismo (Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and for Tourism). It carries out surveillance and protection services throughout the territory of Liguria on the archives of public and private Institutions that have been acknowledged and declared of cultural interest. In addition, it ensures that the archives are correctly managed and stored and that the archives can be consulted.
The main task of the Superintendency is to protect these valuable, historical archives and at the same time to safeguard them for future generations: this is the reason why current documents are protected.

According to Legislative Decree 19 June 2015 n. 78 that amends the art. 5 of the Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio (Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape), the Superintendency also protects the libraries of public and private Institutions declared of exceptional cultural interest (this task was previously exercised by the Regions).

The archives and the libraries that the Superintendency surveils and protects are not kept in its offices: they usually remain with their owners or possessors. In fact, they have the right to keep them and to take care of the documents and the library collections in their own offices. At the same time, they have the responsibility of organizing and properly saving their own archives and libraries under the surveillance of the Superintendency.

The main aim of the Superintendency is to give technical support and help to the owners of archives and libraries, both in the event of particular, unusual or unexpected situations (such as transfer, reorganizations, natural disasters, …) and in order to find solutions and methods to correctly manage, reorder, select, access, consult and enhance their property.

Especially in public Institutions, the daily production of documents, that is the main part of their working activity, hides the complexity of a correct document management, but not only the historical archive, but each and every document (even the daily registered or the IT one) could be considered a cultural asset (art. 10, c. 2., lett. b) Legislative Decree no. 42/2004). In the same way the book collections “of the Regions, of territorial or other public Institutions” are cultural assets (art. 10, c. 2, lett. C) Legislative Decree 42/2004).

Other activities are, for example:

≈ the identification and recognition of private archives and libraries, which, due to their unique characteristics, could be formally declared cultural asset and protected just like public ones;

≈ the census of specific kinds of archives and libraries to promote their protection;

≈ helping scholars to have access to protected archives and libraries through inventory, other consultation tools and information available on line.

In addition, on the 18th of April 2000 the then Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali e per il turismo (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism) and the Conferenza episcopale italiana (Italian Episcopal Conference) stipulated an agreement that was later implemented with Presidential Decree No. 189/2000. According to this agreement, the Superintendency works together with clerical Institutions to protect and safeguard their own archives and libraries.

Ultima revisione pagina web: 14 gennaio 2021