Nolli Map of Rome, 1748. Commissioned by Pope Benedict XIV, Giambattista Nolli surveyed the entire city to create a map which is iconic for architects and urban designers for its depiction of the public realm. Nolli drew the interiors of great buildings-public and private-as open civic spaces, incorporating them into our collective understanding of the life of the city. It represents an ideal city described not merely by its physical form, but also by how it is experienced. Wherever citizens come together as part of their common life becomes part of this public realm, as Nolli defined it in his depiction of the great piazzas of Rome, the courtyards of the noble’s palaces, or the colonnades of St. Peter’s.


Nolli Map of Rome, 1748. Commissioned by Pope Benedict XIV, Giambattista Nolli surveyed the entire city to create a map which is iconic for architects and urban designers for its depiction of the public realm. Nolli drew the interiors of great buildings-public and private-as open civic spaces, incorporating them into our collective understanding of the life of the city. It represents an ideal city described not merely by its physical form, but also by how it is experienced. Wherever citizens come together as part of their common life becomes part of this public realm, as Nolli defined it in his depiction of the great piazzas of Rome, the courtyards of the noble’s palaces, or the colonnades of St. Peter’s.