National Central Library of Rome

I found the staff pretty harsh and miserable to be honest - very brief explanations and lack of customer care skills. It's an old fashioned library, but a perfect place to focus and get some stuff done. Quite tricky to get access to the Internet, but it works eventually.

Good library not the most modern, but the WiFi is great. Good place to study for long periods. You have to be a resident of Rome to enter for free (make sure to bring proof).

This library has very strict rules concerning the use of external documents and some of the services like the copies of its own documents. Sometimes those rules seems absurd, you can't carry a bottle of water inside, you must keep it in the locker at the entrance. BNCR has the biggest choice of documents in Rome but I suggest to use them in the library (because for a scholar or a student not living in Rome it is difficult to loan a book - a certificate of residence is requested to do it ). I found it relaxing to study there, the staff is kind and friendly, there is a nice courtyard that rarely host cultural events, the cafeteria is good and quite cheap, the corridors sometimes host some interesting exhibition. It is very important to learn the rules to have a good experience in the library, I have been studying there for months, the first few days I felt nervous because of the strict rules but there are some well equipped lockers at the entrance to keep everything that is forbidden inside safe and research is easy when a lot of informations are available.

I had an amazing experience at the BNCR. In the scenario post-lockdown, still a COVID-19 scenario, the library reopened with all the necessary care for maintaining the safety of the staff and the researchers. They were very helpful and kind. I have no words to describe my thankfulness to the BNCR team!

DON'T GO. The staff is the worst. I arrived there by car and a man screamed to me that I had to pay to use the parking lot and used the worst slangs and words - literally NO MANNERS!!! - then when I tried to actually visit the library the staff wasn't very welcome and treated me and my friend very bad (disappointment!). We couldn't check the library since my friend didn't have her passport (since she wasn't Italian) and the staff didn't try to find another solution - they won't help you. Then only after 15 minutes (and no library), the same parking lot man told me that I had to pay €1 no matter what. He said "I don't know where you studied Math but €1 it is"... SO RUDE AND THE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!

The best library in the city. Too bad you can't access coffee or any kind of drinks inside the library but you have a full speed internet. Another bad thing about here is that you can't carry your bag or book inside the library, you should put it in safe box

I have the impression that those who write negative reviews have never tried other national libraries. I have been a British Library cardholder, and the first thing you are asked when you join is: "Can't you do your research elsewhere? A national library is a library of last resort. It has to be, because if it allowed everyone who has a curiosity in, it would be crowded out. Then the people who complain about being unable to take their own books in. Don't you realize that the first thing that libraries, any library, have to worry about, is the theft of books? How easy would it be to exchange a book for another, or to simply claim that you had brought in your book when you had not? Ditto, not allowing water near books. Is it possible that the users who whine about that never thought of what water can do to paper? Try and bring in a bottle of Coke into the British Library's reading rooms, see what happens. The reasoning is: "This is not comfortable for me (e.g. I have to suffer the terrible penalty of getting up and walking out of the reading room if I want a drink), therefore it is unreasonable and wicked." Grow up. Not everything is about you.

It's the biggest and I think the best library for studying in Rome. But still if you compare it to libraries in different cities in western Europe it still has a lot to improve .The working hours are quite short, in other countries it is often that studying places are opened 24/7 or at least every day from morning till night. Also the big Italian problem with taking bags and books into the library seems to be stupid to me, in other countries it is totally normal to take your things inside. But the staff was very friendly to me and it is definitely the best available place to study in Rome.