CIRCI, International Centre for Research in the Culture of Childhood

The “Associazione Centro Internazionale di Ricerca della Cultura e dell’Infanzia APS” is a non-commercial and non-profit organisation and exclusively pursues civic, philanthropic and socially useful purposes in the field of culture, with educational projects mainly dedicated to children. In particular, the Association intends to spread the values of art, literature, research and culture in general, with the aim of educating and communicating the artistic experience to children, as fragile and disadvantaged subjects, with particular regard to those who have to deal with difficult economic and social realities as per art. 1, letter l) of the Third Sector Code and art. 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (New York, 20 November 1989).

The Association is hosted by the Biblioteca nazionale Braidense, Italy’s third most important national library, after Rome and Florence. It was founded in 1786 by Maria Theresa Habsburg, and is home to the country’s most important collection of the works of Manzoni, as well as the rare books archive of Umberto Eco. Its vast collections include material in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Syriac, as well as an extensive collection of artist’s books, periodicals and children’s literature. In 2019, with the generous support of the Allenora Foundation, the library created a new educational space to host several Milanese associations and provide space for hands-on workshops.