The International Library “La Vigna” is an Institute of documentation specialized in agricultural and rural world culture studies. It was founded thanks to the successful intuition of Demetrio Zaccaria, an entrepreneur from Vicenza, who got fond of collecting books about viticulture and enology in the 50s. The library is helped by the Centre of Rural Culture and Civilization (Centro di Cultura e Civiltà Contadina) which promotes cultural activities, researches, and conferences on topics orientated towards the agricultural progress and the knowledge and diffusion of the rural culture and civilization.
La Vigna keeps almost 62,000 volumes, dating from the fifteenth century. La Vigna’s historic collection, including travel reports, herbaria, and logbooks, allows to deepen the history of EU traditions and foods: several books tell about explorations developed by men, who once returned home shared a wealth of information on maritime heritage, biodiversity, and food traditions from far lands visited.