Il Tempio Vaticano by Carlo Fontana, published in Rome in 1694, is the most extraordinary document on the history of the complex of St. Peter's.
Il Tempio Vaticano by Carlo Fontana, published in Rome in 1694, is the most extraordinary document on the history of the complex of St. Peter’s. Through the series of etchings made by Alessandro Specchi after drawings by Fontana himself, the volume retraces the design history of the Basilica from its origins, when it was erected by order of the Emperor Constantine near the tomb of the apostle Peter, on the site of the ancient Circus of Nero, all the way to the end of the 17th century. The book presents the beauty of the etchings, publishing reproductions on parallel panels in different formats. Fontana’s text is introduced by a series of essays by leading experts on the history of St. Peter’s, from the foundation in Roman times to the transformations in the 1600s.