Google and Italy have reached an agreement to “scan up to a million books housed in the national libraries of Rome and Florence,” according to an Agence France Presse wire story by Davide Berretta. “The agreement regards out-of-copyright books published before 1868, including writings by Italian physicist Galileo Galilei and German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler.”

Google will assume the costs, which according to one Italian official are estimated at €100 million ($135 million), although a Google official said it will actually cost “a lot, lot, lot, lot, less,” although he would not say what amount Google expected it to be.

“It’s a partnership that opens a new road for Italian culture,” Italy’s Culture Minister Sandro Bondi said at a press conference, while Nikesh Arora, the head of Google’s global sales operations, noted that, “This is our first agreement with a national government’s culture ministry.” That’s because other countries have resisted the effort to the point of legal suit: In France, Google is still appealing a multi-million dollar decision against it in a lawsuit for copyright infringement in scanning French books, while in the U.S., Google’s agreement with a publishers group has faced strong opposition from the Justice Department.