Rare and fascinating map describing the territory of Verona as it was known in the time of ancient Rome. At the top right an insert shows a view of Verona with the walls, the entrance gates, the Arena and, on the left bank of the river Adige, the Roman theatre. The map drawn by the scholar and historian Giovanni Jacopo Dionisi comes from his work De duobus episcopis Aldone et Notingo Veronensi published in Verona at Antonio Andreoni in 1758.
Giovanni Jacopo Dionisi (Verona, 22 July 1724 – Verona, 14 April 1808) was an Italian man of letters, literary critic and religious scholar, author of a famous critical edition of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. A member of a noble Verona family, he was initiated into an ecclesiastical career from a young age: a student of theology at the Jesuits in Bologna, he was later ordained a priest and appointed canon of Verona Cathedral by Pope Benedict XIV. Endowed with great culture and erudition, he was entrusted with the care of the city’s Chapter Library. By virtue of this appointment, Dionisi dedicated much of his life to compiling works with an eruditical-antiquarian flavour, showing an interest in diplomatic and palaeographic science.
