The Antique Collection of the Angelica Library consists of more than 100,000 volumes, published from the 15th to the 19th century. The first core consists of the volumes left in the last years of the 16th century by the Augustinian bishop
Angelo Rocca to the convent of St. Augustine; in 1661 the approximately 3,000 printed volumes that
Lukas Holste, custodian of the Vatican Library, left to the Library.

In 1762 the very rich library of Cardinal Domenico Passionei, which doubled the Angelica’s bibliograph ic holdings.

The richest areas, which are still being increased today, include works on the thought of St. Augustine and the work of the Augustinian Order, the history of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation with a focus on Italy, as well as texts on the religious controversies of the time. Also kept there are collections on Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, texts on Italian literature and theater from the 15th to the 18th century, works on Rome, elzeviriane.