Biblioteca R. Bortoli ex ospedale Baratto

In the mid-1600s, the first hospital for the poor in the city, the Baratto, was built. Since 1988, it has been home to the Renato Bortoli Civic Library. The façade is enhanced by an elegant trifora and six quadrilobed windows from the era, while the building that continues along via Baratto was added in the mid-18th century, incorporating the church dedicated to Saints Christopher and Francis. The third building, the so-called former prisons, built in the early 1800s, is visible from the inside of the library. The complex, after the hospital's relocation in the early 1800s, became, until 1970, the seat of public offices, including the Tax Police Command. In the internal courtyard of the Library, there are two plaques commemorating the Schio Massacre, which occurred in July 1945, and the Civic Concord Pact, signed in May 2005. The Library has an especially important open-shelf documentary heritage, with a significant collection of books and multimedia materials, as well as about a hundred subscriptions to periodicals. Important historical and archival collections are also housed here, including the funds: Pasini-Salasco, Senator Alessandro Rossi, Giovanni Calendoli, Architects Ferruccio Chemello and Vincenzo Bonato. In the historical and ancient section, well-preserved ancient books, parchments, geographical maps, and illuminated codes from the 15th century are kept.