Coletti Family Collection

The first information about the family, native to Pieve di Cadore, dates back to 1407; the Treviso branch of the Colettis traces back to Bortolo Coletti, born in 1727, who bought homes in Venice and Treviso. His son, Isidoro (born in 1771), married Chiara Sampieri, a prominent figure – as were her husband and children Massimo, Agostino and Luigi – in the circle of the Cadore patriots.

Luigi Coletti (1812-1892), esteemed attorney and ardent patriot, was the one to continue the family branch in Treviso where he relocated to in 1852. In 1851 he married Maria Tabacchi, with whom he had five children: Ruggero, Chiara, Carolina, Silvio and Isidoro Alberto.

Isidoro Alberto Coletti (1851-1945), who continued the Treviso branch of the family, married Anita Gobbato in 1884 and fathered Luigi. A businessman, he was also actively involved in public administration and politics.

Luigi Coletti (1886-1961), art historian and critic. In 1919 he married Marchioness Eugenia Campanari and they had a daughter, Clara, and twins Fernando and Alberto. His academic career began in 1937 and ended in 1957. His work for the historical and artistic heritage of the town is outstanding. He was the curator of the town’s Museum and Picture Gallery, and received many honorary appointments, including that as member of the board of Fondazione Cini’s Institute of history and art.

Fernando Coletti (1923-1997), scholar and professor of literature in Padua, Treviso and Venice, where he taught modern and contemporary literature from 1972. Actively involved in the town’s life, among his many appointments he was also Chairman of the Friends of Treviso’s Museums and Monuments Foundation (which he founded).

Contents of the collection

This is a complex collection that includes the library and archive of the Coletti family of Treviso, closely and functionally related. It contains documentation from the second half of the 1800s to the end of the last century. The library holds 14,438 volumes and booklets, approximately 100 titles of periodicals, 409 miscellaneous publications and documents, 33 manuscripts, the library’s handwritten catalogue. The main fields and topics are: Italian literature, art history, literature of European and classical languages, literary criticism, aesthetics, philosophy, history; there are also tourist and art guides, school and children’s books, opera librettos, theatre programmes, music scores.

The archive includes the family archives, folders containing documents and letters of family members, records, banns of marriage, diplomas and maps. The personal and professional documentation of Luigi, art historian, and of Fernando Coletti are especially remarkable, in the archive as well as in the library.

Search instruments
Analytical catalogue, general list, list of periodicals, list of incunabula, library catalogue (underway), analytical sheets of the archival units (underway).

Accessibility conditions
The collection may be browsed according to the methods set forth in the documentation centre regulations.

Methods of acquisition

Gift of Angela Perraro Coletti, 2003; with integrations by the Alberto Coletti estate, 2016.