Riccardo Pivano Collection

Newton (referred to as Riccardo) Pivano was born in Turin on April 16th 1881.

A stockbroker by trade, he concluded his career as director of the Italian Institute of Ship Financing.

From his marriage to Mary Boggia he has two children, Franco (1911-1965) and Fernanda.

With the exception of a short period in Florence, the family lived stably in Genoa until the end of the 1920s, then moved to Turin due to Riccardo’s work needs.

A lover of Italian and French literature, as well as a keen observer of history, politics, art and geography, he encouraged his children to take up reading, by recommending and buying them books, often with inscriptions and dedications.

He died on 27th December 1963.

 

Contents of the collection

The collection consists almost exclusively of books, with almost 1,800 volumes mostly published in Italy and France between the late 1800s and the early 1900s.

The collection is mainly composed of Italian and French literature, children’s literature, opera librettos, texts on history and politics (mainly biographies and memoirs), tourist-art guidebooks, travelogues, books on psychology, philosophy, religion, school and professional books.

The collection is inextricably entwined with Fernanda’s library because the authoress included a certain number of books from her father’s collection for sentimental and professional reasons.

 

Research instruments

The books are entered in the general library catalogue together with Fernanda Pivano’s books.

 

Methods for acquisition and accessibility conditionThe collection was gifted by Fernanda Pivano to Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche in 1997, and is currently deposited at Fondazione Corriere della Sera.