The most beautiful libraries in the world

The Italian Massimo Listri presented this year in his book "The World's Most Beautiful Libraries"a collection of photos taken over more than 10 years of traveling around the world visiting libraries. In the book he highlights the architectural beauty, the lights and volumes of these wonderful places, which today unfortunately are not being visited as often as they used to be.

Through its large wooden doors, spiral staircases and endless aisles of bookshelves, the collection takes us on a journey around private, public and even monastery libraries from around the year 766.

"At once a bibliophile beauty contest, an ode to knowledge and an evocation of the particular magic of printmaking, Massimo Listri. The World's Most Beautiful Libraries is above all a cultural-historical pilgrimage to the heart of our learning rooms, to the stories they tell as much as to those they gather in print on polished shelves."

Some of the libraries featured in the book include the Vatican Apostolic Library, Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, Trinity College Library, and the Florence Library, designed by no less than Michelangelo.