Federico Borromeo "architetto" e il disegno della nuova Biblioteca Ambrosiana

In continuing and completing the significant reforms of the Ambrosian Church introduced by his cousin Carlo during his bishopry, Federico Borromeo showed much regard for the new religious institutions – the Schools of Brera, the Seminario Maggiore, the Collegio Elvetico, to mention just a few – and even intervened on their buildings. This mod-ern cultural project also encompassed the Ambrosian Library, founded to serve as a bridge between lay and religious culture and currently housing vast and rich collections of books and manuscripts. The Library is hosted in a building which was certainly devised and planned by Federico Borromeo who, though consulting the most eminent architects and scientists of the time, was personally involved in the definition of the main design choices, adapting them as the building site advanced. Thus, even if the construction of the building – between June 30, 1603, the date of the laying of the foundation stone, and December 8, 1609, the date of the inauguration of the Library – was in charge of Francesco Maria Ricchino, who became the executor of the design plans and of their realization, it was Federico Borromeo who acted as a supervisor, making decisions and finding solutions. This also thanks to Federico’s architectural knowledge and to his interests in the field, developed ever since his studies in Pavia, where he had met and had become acquainted with Pellegrino Pellegrini, the architect of the Collegio Borromeo and of several other works patronised by Carlo Borromeo. Pellegrini’s ideal and cultural legacy was ever to be present in Federico’s architectural choices which, even in the case of the Ambrosian Library, provide a model of severe and rigorous classicism which adheres to the reformed conception of art.