The Estense University Library is made up of the book collection of the Estense family, which took shape under Nicholas III in the fourteenth century. It is composed of works of high literary, artistic and historical value. Thanks to the refined and cultured collecting of the Dukes of Este, the library continued to be enriched with manuscripts and critical editions throughout the course of the Renaissance and, in the following centuries, from the bequests of Ludovico Antonio Muratori and Girolamo Tiraboschi. After the unification of Italy, volumes of philosophy, law and science were acquired.