The book of the privileges of the town, an authoritative piece of Matera’s history, is finally preserved from the degrading action of time, through a digitalization that also allows public enjoyment. It is the first step of the Municipal Administration, led by the mayor Domenico Bennardi, known enthusiast and scholar of ancient bibliography, to recover the tangible evidence of a historical memory to be delivered to future generations. The volume, preserved in the municipal archive and better called “Privilegia nonnulla Materae civitati granted ab a. D. MCCCXLV. dum antiqujora temporum vicessitudo consumpserit”, represents a late example of the typology of the so-called Libri Rossi (Red Books).
Used by some local historians, the text has not yet been published in its entirety, but still finds an excellent point of comparison between the documents preserved in the University Fund imminent publication in the project of the “Codice Diplomatico di Matera (Diplomatic Code of Matera)”. It is a fundamental piece for the reconstruction on a documentary basis of the history of the city of Matera and the creation of an atlas of the city. The pdf of the Book of Privileges is available to all scholars who would like to see it through the office and the official responsible.
The browsable version is already loaded at this link:
https://www.flipsnack.com/FDED9577C6F/libro-dei-privilegi-della-citt-di-matera/full-view.html?fbclid=IwAR18zrRqEeJ7_hlC-mtZ9ctaCTMnc33IqrfJk7vy9jfIZMq3XM8vxR4kf00