ROMA DELINEATA, 1748-1870
Ichnographic plans of the city / Piante iconografiche di Roma
Descriptive Catalog of Exhibition Images
December 2000

Curated by Dr. Allan Ceen / organizato di Professore Ceen.

Note: Since many of the items in this exhibit appear in Frutaz, Piante di Roma, 3 vols., 1962, that work should be consulted for bibliography before that date. With the few exceptions which do not appear in his monumental work, the map number in Frutaz is given for each catalog entry below.

To inquire about the exhibition or to schedule an appointment with the SU archive, contact Allan Ceen.


Cat. 1
Giambattista Nolli (1701-1756)
Nuova Pianta di Roma data in luce da Giambattista Nolli l'anno MDCCLXCIII
Etching: Pianta Grande 176 x 208.5; Pianta Piccola 44 x 69.5
Reproduction (1984, J. H. Aronson; text by A. Ceen)
For an online reproduction of the Pianta Grande,
see The University of California at Berkeley Online Library
Frutaz No. CLXIX; Private collection

In the publication of his epoch making Pianta Grande of Rome, Giambattista Nolli acknowledged his debt to his predecessor Leonardo Bufalini by reproducing the 1551 map of the city to the same scale as his own Pianta Piccola. Bufalini in turn relied on the ichnographic plan tradition best exemplified by Leonardo Da Vinci's plan of Imola, which itself drew upon Leon Battista Alberti's technique of city measurement through the use of polar coordinates. Interestingly, it was in Rome that Alberti developed this system by taking angular measurements between sightings of major landmarks of the city from the high point of the tower on the Campidoglio's Palazzo Senatorio, and plotting these against distances measured from the tower to the same landmarks. Only Alberti's measurements survive; his map, if ever drawn, does not. Nolli used this technique and complemented it with innumerable triangulations in the field. This is illustrated at the bottom right of the Pianta Grande by the two putti measuring distances with a surveyor's folding "chain" and by the putto recording the results on a plane-table (swiveling board on tripod) upon which rests an alidade for taking sightings which were traced directly on a sheet of paper affixed to the table.

Cat. 2
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)
Pianta di Roma disegnata colla situazione di tutti monumenti antichi...
From: Piranesi, Le Antichità Romane, 1756
Etching: cm 47.7x 68.4
Frutaz No. XXXV; Private Collection

Like all his plans of the city, this simplified map of major ancient monuments is based on the Pianta Piccola of Giambattista Nolli (same scale). The only reference to the contemporary city is the Baroque city wall in Trastevere. Whereas Nolli's chief concern was the portrayal of contemporary Rome, Piranesi's major interest was the depiction of the ancient city. The fragments of the Severan Forma Urbis, which Nolli had been commissioned to display on the walls of the Capitoline museum (a display criticized by Piranesi), became an obsession with the latter who carefully copied the fragments and used them as a design model for many of his etchings. In this image the fragments cover as much area as the map of Rome itself and serve to "illustrate" it, as Piranesi notes in the text. Bibl.: Wilton-Ely 1988, 1994; Pinto, in Archit. Studies in memory of R. Krautheimer.

Cat. 3
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)
Tavola Topografica di Roma in cui si dimostrano gli andamenti degli antichi Aquedotti
From: Piranesi, Le Antichità Romane, 1756
Etching: cm 59.5 x 83.5
Frutaz No. XXXVI; Private Collection

This is the first map to attempt to clear exposition of the ancient aqueduct system of the city, and the relationship of this to the major imperial buildings which it served. In it Piranesi illustrates his theory that the ancient Campus Martius extended all the way to Ponte Milvio. The author's mastery of the intricate archeology of Rome is in clear evidence. In this map the title of the sheet is drawn as if it were a broken fragment of the Forma Urbis (see Cat. 2, above). Bibl.: Wilton-Ely 1988, 1994; Pinto, in Archit. Studies in memory of R. Krautheimer.

Cat. 4
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)
Pianta di Roma e del Campo Marzo, 1774
Etching: cm 70.5 x 90.4
Private Collection

Here we see an almost exact copy in subject, scale and graphic technique of Giambattista Nolli's Pianta Piccola piņata for which Piranesi had drawn the cappricci of the contemporary city. Piranesi does not seem to have hesitated to use his dead colleague's work to augment his own. The only changes are the addition of a few ancient landmarks to the map, such as the dotted line representing the trace of the underground Cloaca Maxima. The author's antiquarian emphasis is illustrated by the index of 199 numbered locations, most of them referring to ancient sites, around the borders of the map. Piranesi's notion of an extended Campus Martius is depicted on this map too (see Cat. 3). Not easy to explain is the orientation of the map with south at the top.
Bibl.: Wilton-Ely 1994.

Cat. 5
Angelo Uggeri (1754-1837)
Roma MDCCC, 1817 (reprint of the 1800 original)
From: Uggeri, Journees Pittoresque des edifices de Rome Ancienne
Etching: cm 70.5 x 90.4
Frutaz No. CLXXVIII

This image is a reduction of Nolli's Piccola Pianta, showing a city essentially unchanged since Nolli's time. The only noticeable difference between this edition (1817) and the original of 1800, is the clearing of the area around the column of Trajan which occurred during the domination of the city by the French between 1809 and 1814.

Unlike Nolli and the other Nolli imitation to date, this is the first map of the city (with the minor exception of the small anonymous map of 1777, Frutaz No. CLXXIII) to have the orientation used by all modern maps: true north rather than magnetic north. Uggeri was a writer as well as "calcografo e disegnatore."
Bibl.: Servolini 1955.

Cat. 6
Angelo Uggeri (1754-1837)
Roma MDCCC, 1817 (reprint of the 1800 original)
From: Uggeri, Journees Pittoresque des edifices de Rome Ancienne
Etching: cm 70.5 x 90.4
Frutaz No. CLXXVIII

Another close copy of the Nolli's Piccola Pianta, this map bears no date, but it is drawn before the clearing of the area around the column of Trajan. The work on Piazza del Popolo has not yet begun. It is very close to Pietro Ruga's plan of 1810. (see Cat. 7 below).

Cat. 7a, b
Pietro Ruga (active early 19th century)
Plan Geometral de la Ville de Rome dans son etat actuel l'an 1812
From: De Tournon, Rome
Etching: a) cm 14.2 x 16.3    b) cm 60 x 80
Frutaz No. XXXVI; Private Collection

The small map by Ruga (a), is bound with his Dipartimento di Roma per l'anno 1814 map (the French Dipartimento di Roma was equivalent to Lazio), and a larger, untitled map of Rome in 17 sheets (b), almost certainly by Ruga, showing Rome with the urban changes planned by the French. Not many of these changes were executed. Piazza del Popolo is seen under construction with the East hemicycle in place (not completed until the 1820s). It shows the symmetrical set of ramps leading to the giardino del Pincio, planned by Berthault, and later replaced by Valadier's asymmetrical ramps which adhered more closely to the actual topography of the hill (see Cat. 8 below). The west hemicycle is drawn in dotted lines together with a planned trivium of paths toward the river. The trivium was part of Valadier's early scheme for a garden which was never carried out. The river walls indicated on the map had to wait until the end of the century to be built. The new Piazza della Colonna Traiana is shown completed, this being the only planned change executed in its entirety before the French left Rome in 1814. The larger map closely resembles Ruga's map of 1818 (Frutaz No. CLXXXVI), for which it must have served as a model. It belongs to the group of 19 th century maps where the street width is exaggerated so as to permit the insertion of the street name (see introduction).

The odd number of sheets (17) which compose it and the empty space resulting by their composition on a rectangular sheet of paper (see photocopy version displayed) suggest that this was a preparatory stage of a map which was to include more images such as views and plans of monuments as we see in Cat. 10. The left hand inscription "Spiegazione di alcuni segni..." is taken verbatim, complete with identical symbols, from the Avvertimento on sheet 32 of the Nolli Pianta Grande. This detail serves to confirm Ruga's dependence on that opus.

These two Ruga maps are aligned in the modern way, with true north, rather than magnetic north, at the top (see Cat. 5). Oddly, some of Ruga's later maps revert to magnetic north orientation (see notes for Cat. 10). Ruga, whose personal dates are uncertain, specialized in Roman views and published Le Mura di Roma with P. Parboni in 1821. Bibl.: Servolini 1955.

Cat. 8
Angiolo Bonelli
Pianta di Roma, 1821
From: De Tournon, Rome
Etching: cm 27 x 39
Private Collection

One of the better plans for noting the gradual development of Piazza del Popolo and the Giardino del Pincio. The garden is complete; laid out following the design indicated in the 1812 (?) map by Ruga (Cat. 7). The Casina Valadier, begun in 1816 is shown in place, as are Valadier's modified ramps leading from the piazza to the gardens. The eastern hemicycle is complete, but no sign of work on the west hemicycle is indicated. The map is dedicated to the Duchess of Devonshire "mecenate delle Arti e Scienze" and has indices in both Italian and French. As usual the model for this map is Nolli's Piccola Pianta, but it is aligned with true north at the top (shown by a single arrow marked "T" - Tramontana - above Castel S. Angelo). (See Cat. 7).

Cat. 9
Anonymous
Roma: Catasto Urbano di Pio VII, 1819-1822
Detail of Rione Campo Marzio showing Piazza del Popolo
Watercolored pen drawing
Frutaz No. CLXXXVII

The inclusion of this image in the exhibit is for the purpose of indicating the basis for the two Cnesus maps (Cat. 13 and 21). See Frutaz for information regarding this important milestone in Rome's cartography. The selection of the detail of Piazza del Popolo serves to illustrate the stage of development of that project in 1822, and the plans for the construction of the western hemicycle.

Cat.10
Pietro Ruga (active early 19th century)
Nuova Pianta di Roma Moderna estratta dalla grande del Nolli, 1823
Etching: cm 60 x 82
Private Collection

Frutaz does not record this map, probably because it seems to be an update of an 1818 map by the same author (Frutaz No. CLXXXVI). But the 1823 Ruga map differs considerably from the 1818 version in its orientation (true north), and details. It is far closer to the 1812 Ruga map (Cat. 7b): the orientation in both is true north, and the Giardino del Pincio design is the same, though more developed in the 1823 version. In fact it is apparent that this is the developed version of the 1812 map. Piazza del Popolo is complete as are the informal ramps designed and executed by Valadier. Gone however is that architect's scheme for a garden between the now-completed western hemicycle and the river. The later map has the Della Porta fountain still in place (it was removed in the same year), while the 1812 map does not, indicating that it had been slated for removal even at that earlier date.

Cat.11
Pietro Ruga (active early 19th century)
Nuova Pianta di Roma Moderna estratta dalla grande del Nolli, 1823 (dated 1843)
Etching: cm 60 x 82
Private Collection

This is an almost exact copy of the 1823 map, the only difference being the date and the substitution of the large plan of Pantheon in the lower left corner with a "Pianta dei contorni di Roma.." None of the urban changes between 1823 and 1843 appear on the later map. Clearly the publisher, Venanazio Monaldini, simply reprinted the 1823 map from the same plates, which look rather worn by this time. The large space between the word "nolli" and "1823" suggests that the plate had been scraped clean of the original date more than once for the purpose of replacing it with a new date, until finally the plate got so worn that the date had to be moved to an intact part of the plate. This map illustrates the tendency to republish older maps without any updating (see introduction).

Cat.12
Pietro Ruga (active early 19th century)
Pianta della Città: di Roma, 1824 (dated 1843)
Etching: cm 73.5 x 83.5
Frutaz No. CLXXXVIII; Private Collection

Like the map by Ruga dated to the same year (1843, see Cat. 11) this is a direct reprint of an earlier map with no changes except for the date. This time the same publisher (Venanzio Monaldini) reproduced the 1824 Ruga, which is significantly different from the 1823 Ruga. This is one of the class of maps which deep street widths to scale, instead of exaggerating them. The closeness to Nolli's Grande Pianta is nowhere clearer than here. The engraver also imitated Piranesi by making it appear that the map is incised on a thick slab of marble with chipped edges, held onto a background wall by metal clamps (a Prianesi trademark). None of the urban changes between 1824 and 1843 appear on this map. In this case Ruga uses the older orientation on magnetic rather than on true north.

Cat.13
Anonymous
Pianta Topografica di Roma dalla Direzione generale del Censo, 1829
Etching: cm 120 x 159
Frutaz No. CXCI; Private Collection

One of the most useful maps for the study of the 19th century city before 1870 appears in three editions, 1829, 1842, 1866 (Cat. 21). Urban changes, the few that occur, are meticulously recorded in the succeeding editions. The original plan of 1829 is based on both the Catasto Urbano of Pius VII (Cat. 9) and on the Grande Pianta of Giambattista Nolli (Cat. 1). The greater detail of courtyards and light wells comes from the Catasto Urbano. The graphics is almost identical to Nolli as is its attention to accurate detail, made possible by its large scale (1:4000). An example is the Piazza del Popolo area, where every tree of the Giardino del Pincio (labeled Publico Passeggio) is depicted. As in the Catasto Urbano, all the streets are labeled, so this constitutes a basic tool for the nomenclature of streets, which change names more frequently than one might think.

Cat.14
W. B. Clarke, 1830
Steel Engraving: tinted, cm 29 x 30
Private Collection

Published under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" in England, this constitutes one of a series of 200 maps of major cities issued by the Society, founded in 1826. It belongs to the wide-street class of 19th century maps, and is probably derived from one of the Ruga maps. The Rione borders are shown in red and seem to be hand colored (the border between Rione Ponte and Rione S. Eustachio is missing). A second edition of this map with more color and place names exists. Unusual is the row of elevations drawn to scale of "principal modern buildings in Rome."
Bibl." Branch 1978.

Cat.15
A. Moschetti
Pianta della Città di Roma e suoi dintorni, 1839
Etching: cm 41 x 54.5
Private Collection

One of the first plans to include the surroundings of the city, this map follows closely the example of Giovanni Battista's 1830 map of "Roma e Dintorni" (Frutaz No. CXCII). Both maps cover the identical territory: falling short of Ponte Milvio to the north, but reaching further south so as to include the Via Appia antica as far as the tomb of Cecilia Metella. Orientation is on magnetic north in both cases. In the same year (1839) the Congregazione del Censo published a map covering a larger area of the Campagna Romana: from Tomba di Nerone to the north to Cecchignola to the south (Frutaz No. CXCV).

Cat.16
Paul Letarouilly
Plan Topographique de Rome Moderne, 1841
Etching: cm 53 x 67
Private Collection

The enterprising French architect who produced this work is better known for his ambitious effort to draw most of the important buildings in Rome in his 3-volume Edifices de Rome Moderne which began to be published at the same time as the map. Letarouilly drew this map for use with his magnum opus, as an inscription on the scroll at center right informs us: "Ce plan fait partie d'un ouvrage d'Architecture sur les Edifices de Rome Moderne." He based the two indices on those for Nollli's Grande Pianta. Letarouilly's map is an almost exact replica of the great Nolli map. Even the architectural capricci below the map are the same, though the figures peopling them are completely redrawn in Neoclassic style. The personification of ancient Rome looks far more determined, the statues of Father Tiber and the wolf with Romulus and Remus are no longer chipped and broken. Pope Paul III Farnese has replaced the personification of the Church Triumphant, and even the putti have been rearranged. Significantly, the dedicatory inscription, which in Nolli was subserviently addressed to the reigning pope Benedict XIV, now bears the proud legend: "Plan Topographique de Rome Moderne avec les changemens (sic) et Accroissemens nouveaux Publie par Pl. Letarouilly Architecte."

It would not be an exaggeration to say that this is the closest map to Nolli's Pianta Grande ever drawn, and is clearly intended as a tribute to that cartographer. The "Changemens" included are Piazza della Colonna Traiana, and Piazza del Popolo and the Pincio. However he does not show the semi-circular building and piazzetta built on the site of the old Legnara on Via Ripetta in 1839. This suggests that he drew his map considerably earlier than 1841, perhaps basing it on his own 1838 map of the city (not exhibited, not in Frutaz; republished by Princeton Architectural Press for their 1983 reduction of the Edifices into one volume).

Cat.17
Colonel Blondel et al., Depot de la Guerre
Plan de Rome et des environs, 1856
Steel engraving: cm 48 x 54
Private Collection

This is a remarkable fine image showing the orography (using hachure; see Cat. 20) of the area between Ponte milvio to the north and the Tomb of Cecilia Metella to the south. It is a considerable improvement on the earlier maps of the surroundings of Rome (see Cat. 17) which here are treated with the same detail formerly reserved for the city within the walls. It is one of the first maps to show the Rome-Frascati railroad which started outside of Porta Maggiore. The suspension span built in 1853, reconnecting Ponte Rotto to the Forum Boarium area, is sketchily indicated. Orientation is on true north.

Cat.18
M. M. Cellai
Piano dell'Assedio di Roma: Giugno 1849, ca. 1864
Lithograph: cm 62 x 87
Private Collection

This is one of two sheets used to explain Garibaldi's 1849 campaigns in defense of the city against the French and the army of the King of Naples. The second sheet (not exhibited) depicts the Campagna south as far as Cisterna so as to include the battles near Velletri. The Rome sheet must date to about 1864 because it shows the Fabbrica di Tabacchi in Trastevere (built in 1863), but does not show the Piazza Mastai and its fountain (1865). Of note is the use of two different conventions for indicating relief: hachure, the older method, used by Nolli and his successors until the mid-19^th century, and contours, used increasingly from that time on. Here hachure is used to denote the hills within the walls of the city, while contours are used only for the hills to the west of the city, evidently to allow for greater detail in indicating the complex series of the French siege emplacements highlighted in that area. In this respect it is worth comparing the map with that of A. H. Dufour (not exhibited; Frutaz. No. CCI).

Cat.19
Anonymous
Pianta di Roma, 1864
Lithograph; cm 53 x 64
Private Collection

Published by the Florentine house of F. & G. Pineider, this is a tourist map bound into a booklet with an "indice Alfabetico" of monuments and streets. The dating is the same for Cat. 20. The anonymous designer used the wide-street model of Pietro Ruga, aligned on magnetic north (see Cat. 12). In both this and the other 1864 map ( Cat. 20), the railroad is shown entering the city through a new gate in the city walls and reaching the Baths of Diocletion. This map labels the "Nuovo (sic) Porta per la Ferrovia," and the "Stazione della Ferrovia." The iron Ponte dei Fiorentini is in place (built in 1863) and labeled "Ponte di Ferro."

Cat.20
August Thiollet
Plan de Rome, ca. 1865
Lithograph: cm 56 x 42
Private Collection

Hachette, the important Parisian publishing house, produced this map for inclusion in their tourist guidebook to Rome. Ancient monuments and churches are emphasized in black on a background street-net of pale orange. The date must be shortly before 1866, when the Piazza Mastai area was defined (see Cat. 23).

Cat.21
Anonymous
Pianta Topografica di Roma pubblicata dalla
Direzione generale del Censo, 1866
Etching: cm 120 x 159
Frutaz No. CCV; Private Collection

The third in the series published by Papal Census department, comparison with the 1829 version (Cat. 13) shows how little the city has changed in the intervening 37 years. The major differences can be quickly summarized: the semi-circular piazza on Via di Ripetta, the development of the Piazza Mastai area (tobacco factory, piazza with fountain, Via nuova Mastai), the Via nuova di S. Pietro (via Garibaldi hairpin curves), the two iron bridges (Rotto and Fiorentini), the railroad, and a broader street from the Campidoglio to the Forum. Another difference is the as yet unexecuted De Merode plan for what was to be the Via Nuova Pia (Nazionale) shown in dotted lines which die out as they head for Piazza Venezia. A set of planned cross streets to this intended new major link to the station is also indicated. Here we have the precursor to the Piani Regolatori which were to dominate cartography of Rome after 1870. The Census map was also to become the base plan upon which these master plans were developed. Bibl.: Romano, Roma nelle sue strade e nelle sue piazze [n.d.]

Cat.22
Felix Benoist
Plan de Rome, MDCCCLXIX
Lithograph: 27.5 x 40
Private Collection

Benoist provided this plan to accompany his magisterial collection of lithographic views of Rome published in 1870 and entitled Rome dans sa Grandeur. Despite its small size, the plan has much up-to-date information, including the Via Nuova Pia (see Cat. 23) which was begun by De Merode under pope Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti, just before the change of government in 1870 (see Cat. 23). Starting at the hemicycle at Piaza di Termini, this street is seen to extend further than planned in the 1866 Census map, ending at Via di S. Vitale. However this did not occur until after 1872, so Benoist is showing a street that has only just been begun as a street already in place.

Benoist's plan incorporates elements both old and new: its orientation is still based on magnetic instead of true north, but at the same time it shows the planning of the future city. This is a convenient map with which to terminate the exhibit because it is one of the last plans to still show the traces of the one that started it all: the Nolli map of Rome. Bibl.: Kostoff 1973.

The Studium Urbis
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Via di Montoro 24 - 00186 Rome Italy
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Email: Contact Allan Ceen