The Antonian Library

The Antoniana municipal library is located in an old Franciscan convent. According to several authoritative sources, the site that houses it—the ancient convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie—is believed to be the oldest convent in Campania and in the early “Terra di Lavoro” region.

Historians agree on the foundation of the convent in 1225, when St. Francis was still alive. The ancient monastery was completely invested by the lava flow of the last volcanic eruption, which occurred on the island of Ischia in January 1302. The conventual friars later returned to the island, and that ancient core gradually developed, undergoing a significant expansion in 1715.
Today, the oldest wing of the convent houses the Antoniana Municipal Library.
The presence in its documentary collection of several homiletic manuscripts from the late 19th century stands as evidence of the continued presence of the ancient Order of the Poor Clares in the convent, following the expulsion of the conventual order in 1809 due to the suppression of religious orders. The four centuries of history of the ancient order, founded by Beatrice della Quadra on the island of Ischia in 1575 and extinguished in 1911, are “imprinted” in one of the most significant manuscripts in the Ischia library: the precious Diary of the Poor Clares.