Archivio di Stato di Novara

From the Italian Wikipedia page

The State Archive of Novara, Italy is the peripheral office of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism which by law preserves the historical documentation produced by public bodies in the province of Novara and for voluntary storage, temporary storage, donation o purchase any other archive or documentary collection of historical importance.

It is located in the monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena.

The headquarters of the Institute, in via dell'Archivio n. 2, occupies a portion of the ancient monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena which in the seventeenth century had acquired all the block between the current via Silvio Pellico (east), corso Cavallotti (south), via Mario Greppi (north), via dell'Archive (west). In 1799 the monastery was suppressed and in 1804 the fractionation phase of the convent began, which involved the use of most of the buildings for the Classical Lyceum established by Napoleon Bonaparte. In the remaining rooms the Notarial Archive was installed, whose renovation was carried out by Eng. Luigi Orelli, one of the most active professionals of the time, who designed and had the grandiose three-tiered walnut shelving (2340 meters - 117 sections) built against the walls of the former church of Santa Maria Maddalena annexed to the convent. In 1823 the building was purchased by the Municipality of Novara, which in 1851 entrusted to Eng. Antonio Busser the reconstruction of the facade, on whose archivolt the high relief depicting the Genius of Conservation was placed, the work of the sculptor Giuseppe Ardenti.

In 1972 the State Archives settled in these premises after some adaptation works; in 1987 the headquarters was enlarged with the acquisition of some adjoining rooms of the eighteenth-century Casa Andreoni. In 1997 a state building adjacent to the premises in via dell'Archivio was assigned to the State Archive. In 1999, the functional and structural adaptation works of the entire headquarters of the Institute began, which ended with the inauguration on 31 May 2007.

Until 1998 there was a Section of the State Archive of Novara in Verbania, which then became an autonomous State Archive following the creation of the new province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.

The Province archives, numerous private archives and some collections of great value have enriched the institute and expanded the possibilities of historical research, such as the collection of autographs Finazzi and above all the background of parchments, statutes, drawings, prints, autographs and others manuscripts of the civic library. At AS Novara there are funds relating mainly to the Middle and Lower Novara area, but also to Verbano and Ossolano, to Valsesia now in the Vercelli area, to Vigevanasco and to Lomellina, now in Pavia.