The Malatestiana Library is a unique example of a humanistic monastery library, whose building, furnishings, book collection are perfectly preserved, as acknowledged by UNESCO, thus becoming the first Italian library listed in the Memory of the World Programme Register. The library was designed by the monks of the Saint Francis monastery, who wished to build a library fully dedicated to the studium, annexed to their convent since the fourteenth century. The first documented intervention by Malatesta Novello, Lord of Cesena, dates from 1450, when he decided to continue the friars’ project and he set up his own libraria in their monastery. Besides the great Medieval works, Malatesta Novello gathered Latin, Greek, Jewish and Arabian codices, in order to realize the project of an universal culture, according to the humanistic canon of that times. The 343 precious codices are still there, tied to the desks with the original fifteenth-century chains. Later, the Malatestiana was donated to the Municipality of Cesena by Malatesta Novello, so becoming one of the most ancient public library in Europe.