A landmark of Milanese cultural life and the favourite refuge of entire generations of university students, the historic Biblioteca Comunale Sormani is preparing to celebrate its sixtieth birthday. That is the span of time that has passed since 10 March 1956, when its book collection – which today amounts to over 700,000 volumes, among them 18,000 ancient books and numerous copies that once belonged to Montale and Stendhal – was moved to the current building on Corso di Porta Vittoria, following the courageous and tireless reconstruction work undertaken after the bombing of the library's original home at the Castello Sforzesco in 1943.

It was there that, on the night between 12 and 14 August, flames broke out and reduced to ashes almost all of the 300,000 books held at the time: a disaster from which the civic library nonetheless managed heroically to recover, reopening its doors after 45 days of closure and succeeding in rebuilding a collection of 75,000 volumes within just a few years, thanks to the generous donations of wealthier Milanese citizens and several public and private institutions, starting from scratch on the compilation of catalogues and introducing an in-house bookbinding workshop.

The driving force and guiding spirit behind the entire operation was librarian Giovanni Bellini (1892–1986), who was the first to flag the need for a different and more functional location. The move to Palazzo Sormani, approved in 1948, was therefore carried out 8 years later, without imposing so much as a single day of closure on users, since the library's various sections were gradually closed at the Castello Sforzesco and simultaneously reopened at the new premises until the relocation was complete.

Today, to mark its 60th anniversary, the Sormani – which still proudly bears the logo designed by designer Roberto Sambonet for its 25th anniversary – has announced dedicated free guided tours (scheduled for 10 and 13 March), and above all an exhibition featuring a selection of documents sent in by readers, who were invited in recent months to submit memories, impressions and testimonies about their relationship with this historic and evocative place in the city.