Tiziano Terzani (Florence, 14/09/1938 – Orsigna, 28/07/2004) was an Italian journalist and writer. A profound connoisseur of the Asian continent, he first landed there in 1965, sent by Olivetti. He collaborated with several newspapers, including Der Spiegel, Il Giorno, L’Espresso, Il Messaggero, La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera. From his professional experience came the inspiration for his books, which were published all over the world.

After his death, first the personal library (2012) and then the archive (2014) were donated by the Terzani family to the Giorgio Cini Onlus Foundation and preserved by the Foundation’s Center of Comparative Studies of Civilization and Spirituality.

The objectives of the project, carried out by the Study Center jointly with the ARCHiVe Center, are the reorganization, archival description, securing and conditioning of the materials in the collection, as well as the digitization of a part of them – both the material of greatest interest for consultation purposes and the material in problematic condition from a conservation point of view.

ARCHiVe then collaborated also in the online publication of the Terzani fund by making the materials available in the digital archives section of the Foundation’s website, where it is possible to consult the entire described fund and part of the digitized original documents. Prominent among these is the collection of photographic positives, a priceless testimony that counts some 8,600 photographs taken during his travels. Together with more than 70,000 negatives – not yet digitized – these images, a mirror of cultures, countries and epochal changes, represent the iconographic counterpoint to Terzani’s writings preserved at the Cini Foundation.

The archival description of the fund is constantly being expanded: in fact, the Center for the Study of Comparative Civilization and Spirituality is deepening the description of the correspondence. Advances will be visible online, so the fund page should be considered constantly updated.

Terzani’s library, on the other hand, has been cataloged on the National Library System (SBN) by the Foundation Library staff.