The Municipal Library of Ciminna was established in May 1977 with a modest collection of books and today houses approximately 28,000 volumes. Since 1980 it has been located in the former Convent of Saint Francis of Assisi, a historic complex of considerable cultural importance, where the ruins of the 16th-century cloister and the building constructed by Father Francesco La Vignera still survive.
The library preserves the valuable Bibliotheca Cappuccinorum collection (15th–19th centuries) as well as an important section devoted to the Italian Risorgimento, created through donations from the Ciminna-born historian Professor Francesco Brancato, after whom the library is named.
Alongside its historical collections, the library also includes children’s sections, a newspaper and periodicals archive, a video library, and a dedicated Braille collection for visually impaired readers.
In October 2016, during a cataloguing project of books from the former Capuchin convent library, the Ciminna-born historian Professor Domenico Passantino identified a rare incunable dating from 1492: the Supplementum Chronicarum by Giacomo Filippo Foresti da Bergamo (Bergomensis), printed in Venice on 15 February 1492 by Bernardino Rizzo.
The adjoining Cultural Centre, housed in the former Cinema San Francesco, serves as the town’s principal venue for the promotion and dissemination of culture. Today operating as a cinema and theatre, it hosts conferences, exhibitions, book presentations, performances, educational initiatives, and events organised in collaboration with local schools and associations.
Named after Giuseppe Alesi (1968–1996), the Cultural Centre is an open and welcoming space that encourages community participation while promoting knowledge, dialogue, and appreciation of Ciminna’s historical and cultural identity.
