Historic Maps of Rome

The Accademia di San Luca was centered on the small Church of San Luca which once stood on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, close to the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century maps are invaluable sources for establishing the approximate location and appearance of the church, as well as other sites around Rome mentioned in the documents contained in the database. These maps portray about one hundred years of changes to the urban fabric of Rome. In some cases it is difficult to identify buildings mentioned in the documents from the archives of the Accademia di San Luca, which often refer to houses or rented rooms only by the district in which they were located. Further, these maps present vastly different views of the city and of buildings, some observed from oblique angles. 

The maps presented here can be viewed and zoomed individually or can be selected and compared. When viewed individually on the pages dedicated to each map, color-coded annotations (pins, polygons, and other shaded areas) appear as an interactive layer with pop-up texts. These annotations represent places and regions mentioned by name in the archival documents from the Archivio di Stato di Roma.