The library of Professor Giulio Sapelli

____

A life spent for culture
The book is a tool for work and satisfaction of the insatiable curiosity of knowledge

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto*

Several personalities have played a significant role within the Foundation, one of which is Professor Giulio Sapelli. Graduated in Economics at the University of Turin, and specialized in Ergonomics, over time he has held several important positions at prestigious institutions such as Cassa di Risparmio di Torino and Olivetti S.p.A, Credito Emiliano, Telecom, Tim, AGIP Petroli, FS S.p.A., Barilla, also fulfilling roles of direct responsibility for orientation and intervention in the areas of personnel policies, internal relations, internal communication, the implementation of programs relating to the drafting and implementation of “codes of ethics”, studies and research.

Director of the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation (1980-2002); President of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation (2000-2001); Board Member of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum Foundation (since 2008), since 1994 he has carried out research and coordination activities within the Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation, becoming a Board Member since 1996.

Full Professor of Economic History at the University of Milan, within the Political Economy course, he is still considered one of the major scholars of economics, politics and sociology.

During 2024, Professor Sapelli donated the last portion of his personal library to the Foundation, for which a special section called the Giulio Sapelli Fund was created.

Thanks to the allocation of the contribution of the call Avviso Unico Cultura 2024 – Contributi regionali a sostegno di soggetti che operano nel campo delle attività e dei beni culturali, it was possible to create this portal, to valorize one of the most multifaceted personalities of our Foundation.

 

Giulio Sapelli’s interdisciplinary culture is visible not only from all the studies and monographs published during his life, but can also be perceived from the analysis of his personal library which, to ensure a more fluid consultation, has been divided into thematic collections:

• Economics and Economic History
• Politics
• Environment
• Anthropology and Sociology
• Philosophy
• Art
• Literature
• History
• On the desk of an Intellectual

This last collection is the most varied as it includes books with underlinings, folded pages and handwritten notes by the scholar. Furthermore, some of them have dedications from authors, friends and students which make the volumes unique within the library.

“Books belong to those who read them… The intellectual uses the book not like the reader”

They not only recall one of the laws of library science “books are made for use”, but they represent the vision of the scholar’s culture, where the book is conceived as a work tool and as the fruit of an insatiable curiosity.

* Publio Terenzio Afro, Heautontimorùmenos, v. 77