The illuminated masterpiece returns to the Vatican after five centuries. La Russa brings Leo XIV the “most beautiful book in the world” as a sign of gratitude
555 years have passed. More than half a millennium marked by the breath of history, by dynasties that collapse and by popes that succeed one another. The world has changed, and very profoundly. Yet, on February 5, Borso d’Este’s Bible once again crossed the threshold of the Vatican, brought to audience by president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa as one goes on a pilgrimage to a treasure. Not a simple manuscript, but the “most beautiful book in the world”, as it was defined on several occasions: a prodigy of miniature where the gold and Afghan lapis lazuli almost seem to dialogue with the divine word.
The return of a masterpiece
It was the year 1471 when Borso d’Este, fresh from the title of duke conferred by Pope Paul II, donated the precious codex, taking it to St. Peter’s Basilica. Since then, that Bible had known the hands of only three pontiffs: Paul II himself, Pius IX and John Paul II. Leo XIV is therefore the fourth pope to touch the original, but the first to receive it in the Vatican after over five centuries. A gesture that takes on the flavor of a symbolic restitution, of a circle that closes through the folds of the centuries.
The visit was strongly supported by La Russa, accompanied by the general secretary of the Senate Federico Toniato and the director of the Gallerie Estensi Alessandra Necci, as a sign of gratitude for the presence of Leo XIV in the Senate last December 18, when the Pontiff participated in the closing of the Jubilee exhibition which had the Bible as the absolute protagonist.
When Gutenberg met Borso
There is a fascinating paradox in the genesis of this manuscript. Its construction began in 1455, the same year that Johannes Gutenberg completed the printing of his Biblethe one that would revolutionize the diffusion of knowledge forever. While in Germany typographic mechanics opened the era of reproducibility, in Ferrara the scribes and illuminators worked on a work destined to remain unique, unrepeatable. Six years later, in 1461, the masterpiece was completed: 606 illuminated sheets on both sides, illuminated by rare pigments and precious metals.
A colossal investment for Borso d’Este, who transformed the sacred text into a political and cultural manifesto of his lineage. The artistic beauty of every page it was also a way of affirming that earthly magnificence could rise to pay homage to celestial magnificence.
From Treccani to the Italian State
The modern history of the Bible passes through another illustrious protagonist: Giovanni Treccani degli Alfierithe entrepreneur who purchased the manuscript in 1923 and donated it to the Italian State, saving it from dispersion. It is no coincidence that the exhibition set up in the Senate also celebrated the centenary of the Treccani Encyclopedia, intertwining two cultural heritages that contributed to defining the national identity.
Inaugurated on November 14th and extended until February 4th due to the enormous turnout of the public, the exhibition represented one of the main cultural events of the 2025 Jubilee, the result of collaboration between civil and ecclesiastical institutions. Now, after the passage to the Vatican, the Bible will return to Modenawhere it will be exceptionally visible from 7 to 9 February in the Campori room of the Estense University Library.
The legacy of beauty
In seeing a book cross the centuries and return to the place of its first consecration, it is difficult not to feel a hint of emotion. In this case we are talking not only about an artistic masterpiece, but about a bridge built between eras that seem irremediably distant. In the hands of Leo XIV, that manuscript once again spoke the silent but very eloquent language of beauty, that which survives wars, dissolved kingdoms, revolutions. And which continues to guide us on what really deserves to be passed down to future generations.
