The National Library of Greece is also legally mandated to collect books and all kinds of documents relating to the reception of Greek culture by other cultures. The Italian Renaissance is clearly the pinnacle of this reception in the modern Western world. With the recent acquisition of the I Tatti Renaissance Library, Stavros Zoumboulakis, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the National Library of Greece, notes that “we are (slightly) reducing the extent of our enormous gaps in this field.”

Harvard University’s I Tatti Center, based in Florence, is one of the world’s leading centers for the study of the Italian Renaissance. One of its many activities is precisely this series, dedicated to the bilingual publication (Latin text and English translation) of literary, philosophical, and historical texts from the period, featuring excellent introductions and commentaries. The National Library of Greece holds 97 volumes of the series (87 were purchased in 2025, while 10 had been purchased in 2020). Four books were not delivered because they were unavailable.

You may see the books here.