The Valente Italian Library at Seton Hall University was established in 1997 by Sal Valente as an expression of love and gratitude to his father and mother, Bruno and Sue Valente. The collection has grown to more than 50,000 volumes devoted to Italian history and culture and is the second largest library collection of Italian books in New Jersey. It expands every year thanks to a substantial endowment devoted to the acquisition of new and rare books, with a concentration from AD 400 to the present.

 

Among the impressive selection of titles and authors, the collection includes numerous monographs and most major reference series such as the Dizionario biografico degli Italiani; Rerum Italicarum Scriptores;  Storia d'Italia UTET; Storia d'Italia Einaudi; Grande Dizionario Battaglia; Storia di Milano; Storia di Torino; Storia di Napoli; Storia della Sicilia; Storia di Venezia; Sanudo's Diarii; and Mussolini's Opera Omnia. 

 

The Valente Library is used by both the public and by Seton Hall's students, approximately 30 percent of whom have Italian ancestry. Space for the collection was recently increased by 50 percent. Because of the tremendous depth of information, the collection has emerged as a major resource for scholars specializing in Italian history and culture.