The Antonio and Suzanne Rea Family Endowment in Italian Studies was established in 1996. Antonio and Suzanne Rea of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, are the parents of five children— Christopher, David (’89), Caroline (’01), Michael (’06), and Marco. Tony earned a degree in architectural engineering and opened his own business in 1972. He is currently president of A. Rea Construction, Inc., and Fairmount Properties, a commercial real estate firm. He is also chairman of Thrifty Florist Inc., a retail florist chain of which his eldest son Chris is chief executive officer. Suzanne graduated from the University of Cincinnati with degrees in fine arts, history, and education.

Recently, the Libraries added more than 1,000 titles to its Italian Language and Literature collection. Topics included historical language development, poetry, linguistics, and new fiction. There have also been exceptional rare book acquisitions, pertaining to the authors Dante Alighieri and Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Materials from specific time periods supported by the Rea Family Endowment include post-medieval materials from the Cinquecento to the contemporary era; materials in Renaissance Italian studies, including histories of Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan; the writings of world-renowned thinkers such as Leonardo Bruni and Leonardo da Vinci; the poetry of Petrarcha; the love sonnets of the Dolce stil nuovo; and contemporary Italian literature, film, and music. The Libraries have also acquired materials in Italian art history, particularly as it is embodied in the religious works of art and architecture patronized by the Roman Catholic Church.