This is a guest post by Dante Figueroa, Senior Legal Information Analyst at the Law Library of Congress, and Antonio Casu, Director of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Library. This is the last in a three part series describing the main aspects of the Italian legislature and legislative process; it highlights the internal organization and the bibliographical resources of the Italian parliamentary libraries, with an emphasis on the Chamber of Deputies’ Library. The first post described the development of the modern Italian government, while the second discussed the Italian Legislative Procedure.
In 1848, both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies created their own libraries. The Library of the Senate (Biblioteca del Senato della Repubblica Giovanni Spadolini) is located at the Palazzo di Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Saint Mary above Minerva Palace), and the Library of the Chamber of Deputies (Chamber Library) is located at the Palazzo Macuto. Both buildings share the same architectural complex –the former Dominican Convent della Minerva— where multiple architectural and religious spaces are now accessible for parliamentary and external users. In 2007 both libraries –which have been open to the public since 1988— created the