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Bastia's Library was built during the French Revolution. Its collection was first of all significantly extended in 1800 with works confiscated during the French revolution . Later, it benefited from various donations from local book lovers including that of Tommaso Prelà (1745-1846), the Pope's physician.

The Municipal Library of Bastia was founded in 1790 under the Convention. The historian Francesco Ottaviano Renucci, the second director, actually organized the institution in 1800. From Paris, he ordered a set of 1,500 books from revolutionary confiscations and added books from the ancient convents of Bastia. Then, gifts from book- lovers from Bastia have enlarged the collections. For example, Tommaso Prelà “archiatre pontifical” (1765-1846), born in Bastia, and personal doctor of Popes Pius VII and Pius VIII, bequeathed his precious library of 15,550 books. As a sign of gratitude, the name of this donor has been given to the patrimonial library (Corsican stock and ancient stock). This library holds about 50,000 ancient books, 131 manuscripts and about thirty incunabula, such as Dante’s Divina Commedia (Venice, 1491), illustrated by remarkable wood engravings. The Corsican stock amounts to 3,000 ancient editions, to which are systematically added all the contemporary books concerning the island. The library also holds plans, engravings and photographs. In 1970-1971, Raymond Borrelly, the architect of the town of Bastia designed a new unostentatious classical building to shelter the municipal library. In 2001, this building was reserved to public reading, and it was extended to be used by the patrimonial library. In the last analysis, the library has a surface area of 2,000 square metres.

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