The Municipal Library of Catania inherited the building and the book collections of the Cassinese Benedictin Abbey of San Nicolò l’Arena. This library, like many others, was expropriated by the State in the second half the 19th century, and was administred by the municipality from 1869 onwards. It later received the collections of other suppressed religious congregations.
In 1924, baron Antonio Ursino Recupero della Torre donated to the Municipality and to the University of Catania its collection of about 41,000 volumes. His books were merged with those of the Benedictins in 1933 and, on the following year, the United Libraries Civica and Ursino Recupero were inaugurated.
Today’s collection includes 18 Hebrew printed books and three manuscripts, two of them are modern (with text in Hebrew and Latin), and one dates back to the 15th century (Sefer Sheh Kenafayim).
