From one of his letters to Boccaccio, it appears that it was his intention to bestow his library on some religious community, but, soon after his arrival at Venice, he conceived the idea of offering this treasure to the Venetian Republic.

He wrote to the Government that he wished the blessed Evangelist, St.Mark, to be the heir of those books, on condition that they should all be placed in safety, that they should neither be sold nor separated, and that they should be sheltered from fire and water, and carefully preserved for the use and amusement of the learned and noble in Venice.

He expressed his hopes, at the same time, that the illustrious city would acquire other trusts of the same kind for the good of the public, and that the citizens who loved their country, the nobles above all, and even strangers, would follow his example in bequeathing books to the church of St.Mark, which might one day contain a great collection similar to those of the ancients.
The procurators of the church of St.Mark having offered to defray the expense of lodging and preserving his library, the republic decreed that our poet's offer did honour to the Venetian state.

They assigned to Petrarch for his own residence a large palace, called the Two Towers, formerly belonging to the family of Molina.

The mansion was very lofty, and commanded a prospect of the harbour.