Giambattista Nolli
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Giambattista Nolli (or Giovanni Battista, April 9, 1701 – July 1, 1756) was an Italian architect and surveyor.
Born in Como, he moved to Rome through the knowledge he had had with members of the patrician Albani and Corsini families. He is best known for his ichnographic plan of Rome, the Pianta Grande di Roma which he began in 1736 and finished in 1748, now universally known as the Nolli Map. The map is composed of 12 copper plate engravings that together measures 176x208 cms and was 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.[1]It was by far the most accurate description of Rome produced to date at a time when the architectural achievement of the Papacy had reached its fulfillment.
The Nolli map was based on Bufalini's map of 1551, with which Nolli readily invited comparison, but 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 building shaded in a dark poché, Nolli represents enclosed public spaces such as the collonades 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.[2]
The map is framed with a vedute by Stefano Pozzi. A scaled-down edition, engraved by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, was published in the same year the original map was finished. Piranesi was instrumental in getting the work printed, but Giuseppe Vasi collaborated in the work.
As an architect, he worked on the restoration of the churches of San Dorotea in Trastevere (1751–1756) and Sant'Alessio on the Aventine Hill (1743).
[edit] Notes
- ^ Tracing Architecture, Dana Arnold, 2003
- ^ see http://nolli.uoregon.edu/nuovaPianta.html
[edit] References
There have been a number of facsimile editions of the Nolli Map, two are listed here:
'The Nolli Plan of Rome: A Facsimile', intro. Allen Ceen, Architectura & Natura Press, Netherlands, 1991.
'The New Plan of Rome' By James Tice and Erik Steiner, University of Oregon Press, USA, 2006.
See also: The Interactive Nolli Map Website from the University of Oregon.
