In 1981 the Veneto Region entrusted the Fototeca Regionale (Regional Photo Library) to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini Institute of Art History.
The collection comprises about 60,000 photographs of paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, weapons, coins, applied art objects and heritage items of demo-ethno-anthropological interest held in local authority museum collections or of local interest.
The photographic material, consisting of medium-format negatives and their respective contact prints, was the result of special campaigns carried out between 1976 and 1980. The campaigns were a response to Legge Regionale n. 45 del 2 Settembre 1974, aimed at increasing the photographic documentation and cataloguing of heritage items held by museums in order to ensure they are safeguarded and available for study; priority was accorded to those collections whose integrity and conservation were most at risk.
The project to develop the Fototeca Regionale collection includes the complete digitisation of the photographs and their cataloguing in accordance with the regulations issued by the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo e la Documentazione (ICCD) for photographs, prints and art objects, so as to allow their widest possible use and consultation through the online catalogue.
The catalogue is constantly updated with new entries and virtual tours focused on specific themes and sections of the collection