035.

Piazza di Termini

All of the buildings seen in this print are either part of the remains of the Baths of Diocletian (1), or reworked structures of that enormous early 4th century complex. The view is taken standing near the side gate of Villa Montalto-Negroni in the southern perimeter wall of the baths, looking the full width of the great enclosure toward the northern perimeter wall, represented by the buildings at the extreme left of the print. Toward the end of his life (he died in 1564) Michelangelo converted the great cross-vaulted central hall of the baths, whose arched windows are depicted at the center of the print, into the church of S. Maria degli Angeli (2). The octagonal structure with the tall lantern was the entrance hall for the church. One of the few discrepancies between Vasi and Nolli appears in this print: the low wall with a gate, in front of the entrance hall, does not appear on the Nolli map. Perhaps it was built after the 1748 publication date of Nolli's map: Vasi published his second (piazze) volume in 1752, but we know that he was already working on it in 1750. Pope Gregory XIII (1572-85) converted part of the ruins into a granary (4). An unusual feature of the print is the close-up of a 1750 excavation of part of the ruins (A), which actually took place much closer to the main structure (3) where Nolli reconstructs a missing section of the baths on his map.