Arnaldo Bocelli (Rome, 1900-1974). Literary critic and journalist. Arnaldo Bocelli’s private library was acquired by the Angelica in 1974 following a bequest in his will. The conditions set by the donor were that the Angelica would set up a special fund and that the necessary paperwork would be followed by Dr Biagia Masulli (aka Biagia Marniti), at that time librarian at the Angelica.
The Collection contains 8460 volumes plus 464 miscellanies and 170 periodicals, arranged in the storerooms in their original order and locations. It has been accessible to the public since 1979, searchable by author and subject through the general catalogues.
The collection documents 20th century Italian literature (fiction, poetry, non-fiction) from the 1930s to the 1970s, with the presence of many first editions of works by major contemporary Italian authors. Foreign authors are mostly present in translation.
There are approximately 1,800 volumes with autograph dedication by the author, whose catalogue was published by Angelica in 1981. A selection of these volumes together with other autograph documents, critical essays and letters (many of which were in Biagia Marniti’s possession and lent by her for the occasion) were on display at the Angelica in December 1979. On the same occasion, the Arcadia Literary Academy, based in the Angelica, commemorated its ordinary member Arnaldo Bocelli (in Arcadia Filarco Prianeo).
In 1994, other documents were catalogued that were included in the Bocelli Fund, donated to the Angelica by Biagia Masulli: autographs, typescripts and various materials (excerpts, newspaper clippings) related to Bocelli’s critical and editorial activities.
In 1999, the Angelica Library acquired the correspondence that Bocelli kept with members of the Italian literary world. The correspondence covers the years 1927-1974. It consists of 6200 papers including letters, cards, postcards, business cards, invitations, telegrams, notes, minutes, invitations. Among the most frequent senders are: Antonio Baldini, Luigi Bartolini, Ugo Betti, Valentino Bompiani, Italo Calvino, Emilio Cecchi, Girolamo Comi, Giovanni Comisso, Arnaldo Momigliano, Eugenio Montale, Pietro Pancrazi, Vittorio Russo, Alfredo Schiaffini, Bonaventura Tecchi, Mario Tobino, Pietro Paolo Trompeo, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Elio Vittorini.
Together with the correspondence, the Angelica Library acquired, through the interest of Dr Masulli, the archive of Arnaldo Bocelli. It includes a large group of Bocelli’s autographs and typescripts on the major authors of Italian literature and their main works. There are also numerous biographical and encyclopaedic entries, evidence of the critic’s work for the Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani.
Bocelli’s literary activity also involved the sphere of journalism: the archive contains numerous articles and articles published by the critic in magazines of national relevance as well as a collection of periodicals and newspapers that Bocelli, due to his work needs, had gathered at one time.
Particularly interesting is the collection of unpublished texts for RAI, divided into 120 broadcasts-lessons on Italian literature from the origins to the contemporary age, a commitment that occupied Bocelli from 1947 to 1953.
The Bocelli archive, revised in 2018, maintains the original division into 76 entries.
L’Angelica provides for the integration and updating of the Fund with the purchase of editions, works and critical texts of 20th century Italian literature.