Overlooking Piazza dei Cavalleggeri, the National Central Library is one of Florence’s  most important cultural centres. The library was opened to the public for the first time in 1847, and boasts some collections of national and international importance, including the "Religious Library" by Pietro Guicciardini (1808-1886).
The collection consists of over ten thousand printed volumes,  the result of a long process of acquisitions by the Count who wanted a comprehensive collection of the works of and on the Protestant Reformation, from the sixteenth century to his time.
A leading figure in the Florentine cultural scene, Count Guicciardini was not only a passionate bibliophile and philanthropist, but also an animator of the first groups of free Christians in Florence from the 1840s onwards.