Giovanni Battista Nolli
Giambattista Nolli (or Giovanni Battista) (9 April 1701 – 3 July 1756), was an Italian architect and surveyor. He is best known for his ichnographic plan of Rome, 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 176 centimetres (69 in) by 208 centimetres (82 in).
Also recorded as Giovan Battista Nolli, Giambattista Nolli · Giambattista Nolli
Giovanni Battista Nolli

Giovanni Battista Nolli · The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland · CC0
- Born
- 1701.
- Died
- 1756.
- Nationality
- Italy.
- Occupation
- engineer, architect and cartographer.
- Known for
- La Nuova Topografia di Roma and Santa Dorotea.
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Documentary summary
Giambattista Nolli (or Giovanni Battista) (9 April 1701 – 3 July 1756), was an Italian architect and surveyor. He is best known for his ichnographic plan of Rome, 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 176 centimetres (69 in) by 208 centimetres (82 in).
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In this article
Biography
Biography
It was produced and published in response to the commission of Pope Benedict XIV 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.
Born in 1701 in Castiglione d'Intelvi (Como), he moved to Rome thanks to the patronage of members of the patrician Albani and Corsini families. As an architect, he worked on the churches of Sant'Alessio on the Aventine Hill (1743) and Santa Dorotea in Trastevere (1751–1756).
Nolli Map
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, 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 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. A scaled-down edition, a collaboration between Nolli and Giovanni Battista Piranesi, was published in the same year the original map was finished. Piranesi was instrumental in getting the work printed; Giuseppe Vasi also contributed.

Nuova pianta di Roma data in luce da Giambattista Nolli l’anno MDCCXLVII, known as La Pianta Grande di Roma, 1748, by Giovanni Battista Nolli
Giovanni Battista Nolli · The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

Nuova pianta di Roma data in luce da Giambattista Nolli l’anno MDCCXLVII, known as La Pianta Grande di Roma, 1748, by Giovanni Battista Nolli
Giovanni Battista Nolli · The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.GUIDETTI, Guidetto in "Dizionario Biografico". www.treccani.it.
- 2.Chamber of deputies- Services to the Public – Library-Services provided.
- 3.Tracing Architecture, Dana Arnold, 2003
- 4.Francesco Dal Co: Storia dell'architettura italiana, Electa, 2000
- 5.Nuova Pianta di Roma. nolli.uoregon.edu.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- '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 [22"x 32"] with 12pp intro. by Allen Ceen; J. H. Aronson Publisher, Highmount, NY 12441, 1st Ed. 1984, 2nd Ed. 1991.
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Elsewhere in Maps and atlases
1,180 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Giovanni Antonio MaginiAuthor
- Giovanni Battista BoazioAuthor
- Giovanni Battista BoccabadatiAuthor
- Giovanni Battista FaldaAuthor
- Giovanni Battista RamusioAuthor
- Giovanni Battista RiccioliAuthor
- Giovanni da CarignanoAuthor
- Giovanni LeardoAuthor
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