The Biblioteca delle Isole [Library of the Islands] serves as the ecomuseum’s research and media center.
It was born with a special mission towards the sixty-odd islands that dot the 550 km2 of the Venice Laguna: their former purposes having become obsolete in the second half of the twentieth century, the Venetian islands are wanly wasting away, some of them literally, with most abandoned and generally forgotten. And yet it was on their choral systemic function that Venice for centuries based its uniqueness, power and good fortune. The Lazzaretto Nuovo intends to help collect and tell the stories that make up this variegated and collective memory, having lived through the centuries of varied uses that typify them (agricultural, religious, health care, military).
The Biblioteca delle Isole promotes and brings together the numerous research studies and theses dedicated to the topic. It is best exemplified by the Giovanni Battista Stefinlongo Archive, dedicated to the landscape, the islands, the fortifications and the gardens of the Venice Laguna; located in the Western Gunpowder Tower of the Lazzaretto Nuovo, it contains volumes on topics emerging from the Lazzaretti Veneziani project.
The research center supports the museums’ commitment to the community and promotes lifelong learning, through initiatives that bring the academic world and the residents together, without neglecting students, amateur historians and the simply curious. It publishes the magazine of the same name, which is sent to five thousand subscribers as a newsletter. Beginning in 2022 it will publish a series of paperback guidebooks and a list of events for the local libraries.