Giambattista Nolli (or Giovanni Battista) (April 9, 1701 – July 3, 1756), was an Italian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

. He is best known for his ichnographic plan of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, the ''Pianta Grande di Roma'' which he began surveying in 1736 and engraved in 1748, and now universally known as the Nolli Map. The map is composed of 12 copper plate engravings that together measure by . It was produced and published in response to the commission of

Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV (; ; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Benedict X (1058–1059) is now con ...

to survey Rome in order to help create demarcations for the 14 traditional ''rioni'' or districts. It was by far the most accurate description of Rome produced to date at a time when the architectural achievement of the Papacy was in full flower.

Biography

Born in 1701 in

Castiglione d'Intelvi Castiglione d'Intelvi was a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located about north of Milan and about north of Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. I ...

(

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

), he moved to

thanks to the patronage of members of the patrician Albani and

Corsini Corsini is an Italian surname. The Corsini family is a princely Florentine family. The emperor Charles IV created the head of the house a count palatine in 1371; the marquisate of Sismano was conferred on them in 1620, those of Casigliano and C ...

families. As an architect, he worked on the churches of Sant'Alessio on the

Aventine Hill The Aventine Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the modern twelfth ''rione'', or ward, of Rome. Location and boundaries The Aventine Hill is the southernmost of Rome's seven hills. I ...

(1743) and

Santa Dorotea Santa Dorotea is an ancient Catholic church in the Diocese of Rome served by the Conventual Franciscan friars. It was first attested to in a papal bull of Pope Callistus II in 1123, being referred to under its first dedication of ''San Silvestro ...

Trastevere Trastevere () is the 13th of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin (). Its coat of arms depicts a golden head of a lion on a red background, the meaning of which i ...

(1751–1756).

Nolli Map

The Nolli map reflects Bufalini's map of 1551, with which Nolli readily invited comparison, however Nolli made a number of important innovations. Firstly, Nolli reorients the city from east (which was conventional at the time) to magnetic north, reflecting Nolli's reliance on the compass to get a bearing on the city's topography. Secondly, though he follows Bufalini in using a figure-ground representation of built space with blocks and buildings shaded in a dark

poché A figure-ground diagram is a two-dimensional map of an urban space that shows the relationship between built and unbuilt space. It is used in analysis of urban design and urban planning, planning. It is akin to but not the same as a Nolli map whic ...

, Nolli represents enclosed public spaces such as the colonnades in St. Peter's Square and the Pantheon as open civic spaces. Finally, the map was a significant improvement in accuracy, even noting the asymmetry of the

Spanish Steps The Spanish Steps () in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. The monumental stairway of 135 steps is linked with the Trinit� ...

. The map was used in government planning for the city of Rome until the 1970s; it was used as a base map for all Roman mapping and planning up to that date. The map is framed with a ''veduta'' by

Stefano Pozzi Stefano Pozzi (9 November 1699 – 11 June 1768) was an Italian painter, designer, draughtsman, and decorator whose career was spent largely in Rome. Born in Rome, he was one of four artist sons of his father, an innkeeper: Rocco (1701–74) was ...

. A scaled-down edition, a collaboration between Nolli and

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric " ...

, was published in the same year the original map was finished. Piranesi was instrumental in getting the work printed;

Giuseppe Vasi Giuseppe Vasi (27 August 1710 – 16 April 1782) was an Italian engraver and architect, best known for his ''Veduta, vedute''. Biography He was born in Corleone, Sicily and later, around 1736, moved to Rome. After a period of intense visits and ...

also contributed.

Notes

References

There have been a number of facsimile editions of the Nolli Map, two are listed here:
'The New Plan of Rome'
By James Tice and Erik Steiner, University of Oregon Press, USA, 2006.
'The Nolli Plan of Rome: Facsimile'
Full-size facsimile portfolio of the original 19 sheets 56 cm x 81 cm 2"x 32"with 12pp intro. by Allen Ceen; J. H. Aronson Publisher, Highmount, NY 12441, 1st Ed. 1984, 2nd Ed. 1991.

Biography

Nolli Map

See also

Notes

References

External links