The most important search engine on the Internet, Google, joins forces with the Government of Italy and signs an agreement to start the digitization process of the millions of non-copyrighted books that are in the national libraries of Rome and Florence. This will be the opportunity for the first time that any person in any part of the world can have access to the Internet and consult in digital format works by authors such as Dante Alighieri or Francesco Petrarca.
This service may be made possible through the “Google Books” tool, where it is possible to “offer an important contribution to the conservation and dissemination of important works of Italian cultural heritage”, as stated in said agreement, which stipulates that the digitization of approximately one million volumes will take place in the next two years. Google will bear all the digitization costs, in addition to providing the ease of copies to the other national libraries in Rome and Florence.
Stefano Maruzzi, director of Google Italy said in a statement, "This project shows the importance that Italy and Italian culture have for Google, which is happy to be able to make its own contribution to spread the cultural heritage of our nation around the world."