This page was created by Constance Caddell. The last update was by Jeanne Britton.

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The Digital Piranesi

Plan of Rome and the Campus Martius, from Views of Rome (Opere, vol 16)

This map, “Pianta di Roma e del Campo Marzio,” serves as something of an advertisement to Piranesi’s other works. But it also resembles an elaborate table of contents for distinct publications. With numbered items in the central map, Piranesi refers viewers to the surrounding index, which includes over four hundred buildings and monuments. From this index, he then directs viewers to his other works, instructing them, often with abbreviated directions, such as “see Antichita romane” (“V. Aa. Re.” [Vedi Antichita Romane”]) or “see Views of Rome” (V. Ve. Ra. [Vedi Vedute di Roma]). Piranesi’s system of references can be quite complex—certain buildings, such as the Pantheon, are glossed in the index with short essays, and a few, such as Castel Sant’Angelo and Saint Mary of the Angels point to a series of images. Animating these varied printed references, which guide viewers both within one image and across multiple volumes of Piranesi’s works, is the goal of this hyperlinked map.

To see this map--printed across three pages--in Vedute di Roma, vol 16 of Piranesi's Opere, click here for the top image, and here for the bottom.

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"Plan of Rome and the Campus Martius," from Views of Rome