FELINI, Pietro Martire

Reissue of the second edition (1615), printed on the occasion of the 1625 Jubilee, of the guidebook to Rome by Pietro Felini (1565 ca -1613) from Cremona. It includes engravings from Girolamo Franzini’s travel guide (1588), not in the first. Felini studied languages, archaeology and sacred music, and was Prior of the convent of Santa Maria in Via in Rome. His treatise on Rome became very popular and was reprinted several times in Italian and Spanish. Based on previous treatises by Palladio and Prospero Parisio, it represented a turning point, including new itineraries for visitors and descriptions of 303 churches, antiquities, as well as detailed information on art history and collecting.

Taking the model of medieval books on indulgences and “Mirabilia urbis”, Felini’s work merged the categories of the ancient, the Christian and the modern capital, each with their monuments, history and the extensive use of illustrations. The work opens with a letter from the author to Cardinal Virginio Orsini and is divided into three parts: a section on the churches of Rome, particularly the first 7, considered essential stops for pilgrims and followed by a list of the stations for each month of the year, especially the stations of the Cross; a three day guided tour of the city and an account of its antiquities in 91 chapters. It also includes lists of bishops, cardinals, popes, Roman emperors and European rulers. Of the principal churches Felini describes their origins and foundation, processional stations (Advent, Lent and others), architecture, decorations, relics and indulgences, as well as miracles and apparitions. Most interesting and accurate are the paragraphs dedicated to the newly decorated San Giovanni in Lateran with its Baptistery, founded by Constantine, San Pietro, San Paolo outside the Walls and Santa Maria Maggiore. The work especially provides a meticulous overview of the art works, accompanied by expert comments and opinions on the Cosmatesque pavements, the altars and chapels with their sculptures and paintings, the frescoed vaults and mosaics, by famous contemporary artists, such as Antonio Tempesta, Giuseppe d’Arpino and Cristoforo Pomarancio, Domenico Passignano, Orazio Gentileschi, Giovanni Baglione, and many others, even Lavinia, a paintress from Bologna, who depicted Saint Stephen’s martyrdom. Many walking directions are contained in the second part. The last section is the most extensive and comprises a short historical excursus on the ruins and ancient monuments of Rome (bridges, aqueducts, circus, theatres and amphitheatres, especially the Coliseum, triumphal arches, columns, temples and other buildings), giving also information on modern collections and artists, such as Michelangelo who drew the statues of the Laocoon, Cleopatra and the Belvedere Torso in the Vatican garden, and sculpted a beautiful Moses (Julius II’s sepulchre) in St Peter in Chains. Chapters 34 deals with the libraries; 35 with the invention of printing by Gütenberg, who spread this art to Rome under Pope Nicolò V. The work encompasses useful bibliographic references, namely Felini’s “Guida spirituale” (1608) and Muzio Pansa’s “Vago e dilettevole giardino di varie lettioni” (1608), on the Vatican library.