Urbis Romae Novissima delineatio MDCL

Title

Urbis Romae Novissima delineatio MDCL

Description

Map shows the city of Rome from a bird's eye view with descriptions of the most important buildings, squares, bridges and monuments.

ca. 1650

Artist

Rossi (1627-1691)

Giovanni Giacomo De' Rossi was the son of the founder of the most important and active printing press of the 17th century in Rome. Begun in 1633 by his father Giuseppe (1570-1639), the press passed firstly to Giacomo and to his brother Giandomenico (1619-1653), and then later to Lorenzo Filippo (1682-?); in 1738 it became the Calcografia Camerale, from 1870 until 1945 the Regia Calcografica, and today it is known as the Calcografia Nazionale. Here are conserved, amongst many others, the plates of Giambattista Piranesi (1720-1778). Giacomo De' Rossi was the most involved of all the various family members who ran the press, and he worked between 1638 and 1691, and was to take the company to the height of its success.

Historical Description

According to the founding legend, Rome was founded by Romulus in 753 BC. According to this legend, Romulus later killed his twin brother Remus when the latter was amused by the city wall built by Romulus. According to the legend, the twins were the children of the god Mars and the vestal virgin Rhea Silvia. They were abandoned on the Tiber, suckled by a she-wolf and then found and raised by the shepherd Faustulus on the Velabrum below the Palatine. At the beginning of its history, according to later tradition, Rome was a kingdom; Titus Livius names Numa Pompilius as the first of the - largely legendary - successors of Romulus. Although Rome could hardly resist an invasion by the Celts in 390 B.C., the city nevertheless expanded steadily thereafter. To protect it from further invasions, the Servian Wall was built. In 312 BC, the first aqueduct was built and the Via Appia was constructed. By the 1st century AD, Rome was already a city of millions and both the geographical and political center of the Roman Empire. Under the rule of the Flavian dynasty (69-96 AD), extensive building activities began, financed by the emperors. These new public buildings include some of the most famous monuments such as the Colosseum and part of the Imperial Forums. Large thermal complexes, such as those built by Caracalla and Diocletian in the 3rd century, which even included libraries, had become an integral part of urban Roman life. Obsessed with the idea of surpassing their predecessors, the emperors built ever larger structures, such as the basilica of Maxentius. This is sometimes considered an indication of an incipient decline of the empire, but it shows above all that Rome was still the most important stage for rulerly self-expression until the early 4th century. Furthermore, the Aurelian Wall was built in the late 3rd century, as the city had long since outgrown the confines of the Servian Wall. After the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476, however, large urban facilities such as the Baths of Diocletian and the Colosseum were initially maintained; despite declining population, ancient life continued. In 550, the last chariot races took place in the Circus Maximus. Since Pippin, Rome gained new importance as the capital of the Papal States (Patrimonium Petri) and as the most important place of pilgrimage for Christianity, along with Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela. The tomb of the Apostle Paul, who was executed after the burning of Rome under Nero in 64, and numerous other relics, which the Catholic Church believed to be directly in Rome, promised pilgrims extraordinary graces and indulgences during the Holy Years from 1300 onwards. In particular, the assumption that Simon Peter was executed together with Paul and buried in Rome contributed to this. This assumption is extremely controversial among historians to this day. In Christian times, many important buildings were built which consisted mainly of churches, these still characterize the Roman cityscape. But also new streets with sight lines, palaces and squares with fountains and obelisks. Rome has remained in this state until today, which is why the Roman Old Town is one of the two World Heritage Sites in the city of Rome, along with the Vatican.