ROSSI, Girolamo

by Girolamo Rossi

£2,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

First edition of this important and extensive work in ten books on the civil, religious and artistic history of Ravenna, from its origins until the C16th, by Girolamo Rossi (1539-1607), member of an illustrious family from Parma and a well known historian and physician at Pope Clement VIII s court. The work is unique in the historiography on cities gathering a number of literary sources from the classical to the early modern age, as well as of documents from the archives of Rome and Ravenna. Several centuries of history are embraced. Starting from the pre-Roman age, the book describes Ravenna as the capital of the Western Empire (402-476), the reigns of Odoacre and Teodorico, the Byzantine Exarchate, until the time of the city-state and aristocratic government under the Traversari and Da Polenta families, and eventually, Venetian (1441-1509) and ecclesiastical dominion. The work is complex but well structured, with a rich paratext including a dedication to the cardinal Giulio Feltrio della Rovere (23 February 1571), which celebrates Ravenna Church and its relationship with Rome; then poems in Latin by contemporary scholars, particularly Orazio Toscanella, Natalino Conti and Vincenzio Carrari, praising Rossi s work and Ravenna s eternal fame; a letter to Ravenna where the author expresses his gratitude to the civil authorities for supporting him and his family. Then follows a detailed index of names, the text of the ten books and genealogical trees of the Traversari and Da Pol

• Binding: Hardcover

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