
The Nolli Map as Artifact
Allan Ceen and Jim Tice
Department of Architecture, Pennsylvania
State University
Department of Architecture, University of Oregon
The Nolli map is composed of 12 nearly equal-sized
plates, each measuring approximately 80 cm by 54 cm with the
assembled map at 176 cm by 208 cm. Numbers are indicated in
the upper corner margins in each plate that were to have been
used as identifying page numbers for the publication of the
map in bound format which never materialized.
Using the conceit of a scroll curled up
at the edges, the map itself is clearly distinguishable from
the entourage and frame. The border consists of decorative
elements and medallions that are regularly interspersed with
the symbols of the 14 Rioni defined
by Bernardini. The map’s entourage includes various
figures, buildings, inscriptions, and the like, each of which
is precisely rendered to evoke actual places or particular
ideas and symbols.
The general schema divides the entourage into two parts: Ancient
Rome resides in the lower left corner and Modern Rome lies
in the lower right portion of the map separated by a monumental
marble slab with the map’s title and dedicatory inscription
to Benedetto XIV. This feature can be identified as the Antonine
pedestal located in the Piazza di Montecitorio
(NN 86) in Nolli’s time
and later moved to the Vatican.
The inscription reads:

Translates to:
TO HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT
THE 14TH
THE NEW MAP OF ROME
IS OBSEQUIOUSLY OFFERED AND DEDICATED
BY HIS HUMBLE SERVANT
GIAMBATTISTA NOLLI OF COMO
The ancient theme in the lower left features the personification
of Rome and the recumbent River God representing the Tiber
both as carved statuary. In the foreground are ruined fragments
that represent the mythical founders of Rome, Romulus and
Remus next to the remains of the famous She Wolf that gave
them suckle. The monuments which serve as a backdrop to these
figures are all recognizable ancient monuments extant during
Nolli’s time as well as today.
The ancient monuments with their numerical numbers are listed
below from left to right:
1. Colonna
Trajan NN 113
2. Arco de’ Pantani NN 124
3. Tre antiche
Colonne Scanellate NN 928
4. L’Anfiteatro
Flavio detto il Colosseio NN 936
5. Arco di
Costantino Magno NN 935
6. Obelisco
già del Circo Masimo NN403
(the most likely)
7. Tempio
della Pace NN 74
8. Arco di
Tito Imp. NN 73
9. Sepolcro
di Cajo Cestio NN 1068
10. Obelisco
già del Mauso. d’Aug.
NN 50
11. Portico
del Tempio della Concordia
NN
924
12. Colonna
di Marco Aurelio, e Piazza detta Colonna
NN 310
13. Colonne
del tempio de Giove Tonante NN
923
14. Arco
di Settimio Severo NN 96
15. Avanzi
del Foro Palladio, o de Nerva
NN 85
Modern monuments on the right include:
1. S. Pietro
NN 1285
2. Braccio
Nuovo (of the Campidoglio) NN
918
3. Palazzo
dei Conservatori (of the Campidoglio)
NN 919
4. S. Giovanni
in Laterano NN 5
The modern theme in the opposing corner
includes a living personification of Rome receiving the Papal
tiara from airborne putti, the entire scene framed by modern
buildings most prominent amongst them being the Campidoglio,
St. Peter’s Basilica, and S. John’s in the Lateran.
The juxtaposition of left and right sides suggests a knowing
awareness of Rome’s pagan past and Christian present
and, with the figures and building symbolizing antiquity in
ruins, it conveys the notion of a triumphant Church over paganism
and a similar accession of the modern world over the ancient
now crumbling into ruins.
The putti that cavort throughout the
lower portion of the map are highly instructive. The first
on the left is carving the papal coat-of-arms of Benedetto
XIV. The putti in the center are focusing on a bussola (magnetic
compass), noting, as in the wind rose on the map, that the
city plan is oriented according to magnetic north rather than
astronomical north, a significant detail reinforced in the
map itself and an important clue as to the surveying techniques
used by Nolli. The group of putti to the right are shown busily
at work surveying the city with the foreground putto using
the alidade and bussola on a plane table to orient drawings
and to render precise sight lines. The chains in use by the
putti in the background are the same used by Nolli and his
team to measure distances used in triangulation.
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Left: Putti
illustrating the use of the compass, or bussola.
Below: Putti using a system of chains to measure
distances in the city. |
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An architectural scale in front of the dedicatory
pedestal shows the Roman Palmo,
the traditional unit of measurement in Rome which measures
223.4 millimeters or approximately 8.75 inches. The scale
of the original map, is approximately 1:2,900.
The engravers of the map are noted on the
edge of the scroll and include Nolli’s son, Carlo, Rocco
Pozzi Romano and Pietro Campana da Soriano.
A note located just below the bussola
further credits Nolli senior giving his credentials as both
architect and surveyor:
Misurata delin. ed a proprie
Spese data in luce da Giam
batta Nolli Geom.a ed Arch.o
l’Anno 1748
Translates to:
Measured and drawn at his own
Expense and published by
Giambattista Nolli, Surveyor and Architect
In the year 1748
Si stampa in Roma
Con Privil. De Somo.
Pontefice e licenza
de’Superiori
Translates to:
Printed in Rome
with copyright privilege
granted by Pontifex Maximus [Pope]
and permission of the Superiors
Stefano Pozzi Pit. impr. delin.
There is a small "avvertimento,"
or notice tucked into a far corner of the map which explains
the significance of the wind rose and distinction between
true north and magnetic north.
Avvertimento
La linea T.M. nella Stel-
la dei Venti indica la
linea Meridiana Astronomica
La piccola Saetta nota la
linea Meridiana
della Bussola
Translates to:
Notice
The T-M line in the wind star (compass rose)
indicates the astronomical Meridian line (True North)
The thin arrow denotes the Meridian line of
the compass (Magnetic North)
Cartographic symbols on the map proper
are, for the most part, intuitively easy to understand: dark
gray hatching for modern building fabric, white for open space.
Ancient monuments are rendered in darker gray or black indicating
extant ruins, while a white outline suggests hypothetical
plans of ancient monuments that no longer exist (famously
Nolli incorrectly speculated about the orientation of the
Theatre of Pompey
rotating it 90 degrees off it true position). A series of
textured s-shaped curves are used to indicate contours or
slopes (contours were not in common use until the turn of
the 19th century). In addition gardens (and a variety of differing
plant materials and cultivation patterns are noted), paving
patterns, the river (and its direction of flow) are all carefully
rendered.
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Selection of Nolli's
Cartographic Symbols |
Various cartographic symbols are used to
indicate a variety of features that would otherwise be difficult
to convey. These include drains (open and closed), soldiers’
billets, apertures in the Aurelian wall circuit, cemeteries
and the separating boundaries between Rioni
(dotted lines). In addition pictorial elements are used to
represent river craft which includes at least two basic types:
the ferry boats with tethering lines as well as cargo craft
used to navigate downstream toward Ostia
(at the Porto di Ripa Grande)
and other similar craft working their way north from the Porto
di Ripetta. Molini or
water mills are clearly shown proliferating in the rapids
near the Isola Tiberina.
Nolli’s numerical indexing system
which includes 1,320 sites, is topographically arranged by
administrative region or Rioni.
They are:
I. Monti (NN
1-205)
II. Trevi (NN 206-302)
III. Colonna (NN 303-385)
IV. Campo Marzo (NN 386-509)
V. Ponte (NN 510-602)
VI. Parione (NN 603-660)
VII. Regola (NN 661-756)
VIII. S.Eustachio (NN 757-836)
IX. Pigna (NN 837-907)
X. Campitelli (NN 908-995)
XI. S.Angelo NN 996-1035)
XII. Ripa (NN 1036-1099)
XIII. Trastevere (NN 1100-1235)
XIV. Borgo (NN 1236-1320)
*NN = Nolli Number
Beginning with Monti, Rione I (S.
Stefano Rotondo with its cipher-like plan is perhaps
fittingly the first site) and ending in the Borgo, Rioni XIV,
next to another circular plan, the Castel
S. Angelo. Each number corresponds to its corresponding
textual index published in separate folio sheets. In addition
each site is noted in an alphabetical list of 19 building
types with overlapping categories in over one hundred cases
(about 100 sites fall into two or more categories such as
the Pantheon which is listed
both as church and as ancient monument).
Beyond graphic symbols and keyed numbers
Nolli uses textual labels to indicate additional sites in
two ways. First to provide designations at a large city scale
he uses large type to indicate the hills of Rome and Rioni.
Smaller type is used for city gates, villas, gardens and the
like, mostly in the disabitato
area where there is room (graphically speaking) to write things
out. Sometimes, perhaps for emphasis, Nolli indicates some
sites using both numbers and textual labels such as Terme
Diocleziane ora Certosa (NN203).
The resultant document is a wonder of information
that combines a sophisticated iconographic schema, a precise
technical scale and accurate north arrow, illustrative cartographic
symbols, detailed numerical indices and textual labels that
provide an exhaustive explication of Rome and its social,
artistic and scientific context. |