The 'De Architectura' of Vitruvius translated into Italian and edited by Berardo Galiani (1758 and 1790)

Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
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L'Architettura di Marco Vitruvio Pollione tradotta e commentata dal marchese Berardo Galiani [Vitruvius' Architecture translated and commented by the Marquis Berardo Galiani]

Foreword by Alessandro Pierattini

(unabriged reprint of Naples edition, 1790)

Rome, Editrice Librerie Dedalo, 2005

Fig. 1) Vitruvius/Galiani. The page before the frontespecie of the Naples edition, 1758
Source: http://www.unav.es/ha/009-TRAT/vitruvio-galiani.htm

[N.B. On Vitruvius see in this blog also: Francesca Salatin, An Introduction to Fra Giocondo's Vitruvius (1511); Vitruvius, On Architecture, Edited by Pierre Gros. Translation and Commentary by Antonio Corso and Elisa Romano. Essays by Maria Losito, Turin, Einaudi, 1997; Giovanni Mazzaferro, Rare Books and a Great Discovery: a Specimen of Vitruvius' De Architectura Annotated by Cosimo Bartoli; El Greco. The miracle of naturalness. The artistic thought of El Greco through the margin notes to Vitruvius and Vasari. Edited by Fernando Marías and José Riello, Rome, Castelvecchi, 2017; The Annotations by Guillaume Philandrier on Vitruvius' De Architectura. Books I to IV. Edited by Frédérique Lemerle, Paris, Piccard, 2000; Marco Vitruvio Pollione's Architecture, translated and commented by the Marquis Berardo Galiani. Foreword by Alessandro Pierattini (unabriged reprint of Naples edition, 1790), Rome, Editrice Librerie Dedalo, 2005; Claude Perrault, Les Dix Livres d’Architecture de Vitruve, Corrigez et traduitz nouvellement en françois avec des notes et des figures, Paris, Jean Baptiste Coignard, 1673; Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture. The Corsini Incunabulum with the annotations and autograph drawings of Giovanni Battista da Sangallo. Edited by Ingrid D. Rowland, Edizioni dell’Elefante, 2003; Massimo Mussini, Francesco di Giorgio e Vitruvio. Le traduzioni del 'De architectura' nei codici Zichy, Spencer 129 e Magliabechiano II.I.141, Leo S. Olschki, 2003; Francesco di Giorgio Martini, La traduzione del De Architectura di Vitruvio. A cura di Marco Biffi, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, 2002; Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Il "Vitruvio Magliabechiano". A cura di Gustina Scaglia, Gonnelli editore, 1985.]

[1] The translation of Vitruvius' De Architectura executed by the Marquis Berardo Galiani was published in Naples in 1758. Excluding the plagiarism by Francesco Lutio called the Durantino (Venice 1524) and the incomplete edition by Giambattista Caporali (Perugia 1536), it was only the third translation printed in Italian, after that of Cesare Cesariano (1521) and the most famous edition edited by Daniele Barbaro (1556). The Galiani edition was certainly no resounding commercial success if the author, who carried all costs, had difficulty to recover his investment in subsequent years. Nevertheless, of the version by Galiani were published several other editions (at least seven in a century). The second is from 1790, published in Naples "by the Terres brothers." Some specimens were also printed bearing the indication on the title page that they had been produced at the printing house of Luigi and Benedetto Bindi in Siena, but it was "a petty commercial artifice" according to Luigi Vagnetti. We are reporting to his Per una coscienza vitruviana. Regesto cronologico e critico delle edizioni, delle traduzioni e delle ricerche più importanti sul trattato latino De Architectura Libri X di Marco Vitruvio Pollione (For a full awareness of Vitruvius. Chronological and critical summary of the editions, translations and most important research pieces on the Latin treatise De Architectura Book X by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio). The 1790 edition does not display the Latin text, included in the 1758 one. It is of the version of 1790 that the reprint is now produced, preceded by a preface by Alessandro Pierattini and with the addition of some black and white or colour plates derived from other treaties of the XVI, XVII, XVIII and XIX centuries.

Fig. 2) Vitruvius/Galiani (Naples edition, 1758): The human proportions; sections of walls and roofs
Source: http://www.unav.es/ha/009-TRAT/vitruvio-galiani.htm

[2] Why did the Marquis Berardo (brother of the more famous Ferdinand and nephew of that Monsignor Celestino, who was a man of deep culture and the hub of erudite acquaintances in the Neapolitan area) come to the decision to prepare a new translation of the De Architectura? Luigi Vagnetti writes in the above mentioned commentary that "the commitment devoted to this new translation and to his commentary... must be put in relation with the new and remarkable archaeological interests that were rapidly spreading in Europe following the writings of Winckelmann, interests that... had found fertile ground to propagate and succeed precisely in the Neapolitan region" (p.119). One should indeed not forget that excavations started in Herculaneum in 1738 and in Pompeii in 1748. This statement does not seem however entirely convincing, if it is true that Galiani does not mention the excavations of Campania in his preface, and that, for example, there are only two quotes in the whole work on Paestum (plus a representation of the Temple of Athena at p. 94). Furthermore, Walter Kruft in A History of architectural theories from Vitruvius to the Present  takes note that "Berardo Galiani, a member of the Accademia Ercolanense,... explains the passages of the Latin author [note of the editor: Vitruvius] on the old house not with the discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii, but with the reconstructions by Palladio and Perrault, while he had free access to the excavations" (p. 284). More simply, it is the same Berardo to give us information about his motivations in the preface; the previous Italian editions did not now appear satisfactory in terms of text reliability and completeness of philological notes (and probably also because two centuries in the language evolution had made it tricky to read). An exception was the only French edition by Perrault (1673), of which, however, only translated versions in reduced form circulated in Italy: "Without doubt, Perrault is the only one who deserves a particular esteem far above all, both for the usefulness of his well-reasoned notes and for the sharpness of the version. It always lacked, with little honour for our Italy, a translation that could be somehow opposed to the French one"; an unfortunate situation, given that "the seat of these studies - and the teacher of these matters - has always been, without any doubt, Italy." There is, therefore, the awareness that an important delay has now materialised, even more in a discipline where Italy had always been the point of reference. Now things have changed, and if one wants to remain up to date on Vitruvian studies, he or she must look to France. The ambition of Galiani, and of those who pushed him to this endeavour, was to fill this gap and propose an Italian text with a commentary adapted to the new times.

Fig. 3) Vitruvius/Galiani (Naples edition, 1758): Doric order
Source: http://www.unav.es/ha/009-TRAT/vitruvio-galiani.htm

Fig. 4) Vitruvius/Galiani (Naples edition, 1758): Ionic order
Source: http://www.unav.es/ha/009-TRAT/vitruvio-galiani.htm

Fig. 5) Vitruvius/Galiani (Naples edition, 1758): Corinth order
Source: http://www.unav.es/ha/009-TRAT/vitruvio-galiani.htm

[3] Any further step requires a diligent inquiry of archival papers. For this reason, the essay by Sergio Villari, entitled La traduzione di Vitruvio del marchese Berardo Galiani (Vitruvius’ translation by the Marquis Berardo Galiani) and published in Vitruvio nella cultura architettonica antica, medievale e moderna (Vitruvius in the ancient, medieval and modern architectural culture), is of a particular importance. Villari reports to have found most of the cards by Berardo at the Library of the Società napoletana di Storia Patria (Neapolitan Society of Homeland History), among the non-inventoried materials. "It is a few letters, notes and fragments in loose sheets relating to the already well-known Dissertazione sul Bello (Essay on the Beautiful) [note of the editor – see below], of seven manuscript volumes containing notes on architecture, five other volumes which contain various drafts of the translation and commentary of Vitruvius, a Trattato di Prospettiva (Treaty on Perspective), a Corso di Geometria (Geometry course), and finally three volumes containing a Corso di Architettura (Architecture course)" (p. 698). We hope that some scholars of good will, sooner or later, take charge of examining carefully these cards, which could tell us a lot more than what we know today about the figure of the Marquis Galiani. Villari, however, provides some first and important information on the drafting of De architectura: for example, that the idea of ​​a new edition of the work seems to come from the advices by Monsignor Celestino, that the translation of the text turned out to be completed in a first draft as from 23 September 1754, that the endeavour somehow also involved Monsignor Giovanni Gaetano Bottari (albeit to an extent that seems marginal, and with reference mostly to the Latin text). On the Latin text, which however does not appears in this reprint, it is worth adding a curiosity: the Marquis Berardo notes in his preface that he had made use of the edition by Philander (or Filandro, if you prefer), then combining it with other manuscripts (and here, in fact, Bottari played a role). However, as reported by Frédérique Lemerle in his Les Annotations de Guillaume Philandrier sur le De Architectura de Vitruve (The comments by Guillaume Philandrier on the De Architectura by Vitruvius) the French version displayed in the bottom of the Comments by Philander, as from the edition in Lyons in 1552, in fact had not been produced by Philander; it was instead an issue edited by Friar Giocondo, (ca. 1433 – 1515), one generation before. The fact was obviously unknown to Galiani. It remains to report a final and unpleasant circumstance: the two final pages of the preface to this reprint, presented by Alessandro Pierattini with the title La traduzione commentata del marchese Berardo Galiani  (The annotated translation of the Marquis Berardo Galiani) are actually a brief summary of the essay by Sergio Villari; a summary sometimes all too literally.

[4] It must be remembered that Renato De Fusco reported and commented ample excerpts of the translation by Galiani inside his Il codice dell’architettura (The code of architecture

Fig. 6) Vitruvius/Galiani (Naples edition 1758): the Roman Theater

Source: http://www.unav.es/ha/009-TRAT/vitruvio-galiani.htm

[5] The news we have on the work and the thinking of Berardo Galiani are so scarce that it seems here the case to abandon his translation of Vitruvius for a moment and to broaden the scope to his other works, which, unfortunately, are still virtually unknown today. The writing of these lines is owed almost entirely to the doctoral thesis discussed by Loris Pellegrini at the University of Bologna in the academic year 1978-79 (Rapporteur Luciano Anceschi) and called Del Bello (1765). Una dissertazione inedita di Berardo Galiani. (On Beauty (1765). An unpublished essay by Berardo Galiani). We have not had the opportunity to read the transcript of the manuscript of the Marquis, but fortunately the initial part of the thesis is available at the Internet address www.webalice.it/loris.pellegrini/testi/galiani.html . After the translation of Vitruvius, Berardo Galiani had in mind to write a treatise on architecture: "wanting to honour the promise already made to the public, to produce another work on architecture, I am now able to explain that this fatigue of mine will be a whole treatise of architecture, aiming at the education of 'beginners. This will be divided into three books: the first is discussing the beauty, the second the comfort, and finally the third will be devoted to the fortress. The first of these reflections must be that on beauty. All three are important issues, but since other applications are not allowing me to seriously apply to these studies (but just in my stolen time, as people say) I would like at least to start by publishing the first book on beauty". These were the words quoted by Pellegrini and drawn from the Notice to the reader contained in Del bello. Dissertazione metafisica del M.B.G., Napoli, MDCCLXV (On beauty. Metaphysical essay by Monsignor Berardo Galiani, Naples, 1765). In summary, Galiani had engaged to draft an architecture course in three volumes; the first volume (the one on beauty) was completed and is definitely the above mentioned dissertation. In the not-catalogued cards of the Galiani fund at the Neapolitan Society of Homeland History, Sergio Villari found three manuscript volumes containing an Architecture Course (an unknown volume to Pellegrini, who had instead sought among the catalogued papers, as he wrote). The suggestion that the three volumes in question may be precisely the course of architecture compiled by Berardo is really strong. Hopefully one day we will be able to shed some light on the matter. With reference to the Essay on Beauty, it must be instead said that the work was not entirely unknown. Comolli mentions it in his Bibliografia storico-critica dell’architettura civile ed arti subalterne (Historical-critical bibliography of civil architecture and subordinate arts), publishing at pp. 233-234 a short "ragguaglio" (description) on the work given to him by Emanuele Assione. Benedetto Croce, in turn, talks about the Essay, reporting it was one of the first texts in which a judgment appears on the Saggio sopra la Bellezza (Essay on the Beauty) by Giuseppe Spalletti (published in the same year, i.e. in 1765; it was an extension of the dissertation of the Marquis). However - Pellegrini writes - all opinions expressed are somehow reductive, and probably are not based on any reading of the work. "At the end of the eighteenth century the name of Galiani was pooled with those of Derizet, Ricciolini and the many other supporters of the theory of harmonic proportions; in the new climate of aesthetic and architectural studies, they were all destined to a merciless oblivion... Yet simply going through the essay “On the Beauty” would have shown that Galiani was interested in something more than the mere defence of harmonic proportions. But the essay, which – being unpublished - was condemned to a difficult, and almost always indirect and brief, dissemination - easily lent itself to being misunderstood by scholars of architecture, who saw in Galiani the translator of Vitruvius and then the defender of outmoded Renaissance theories; and by scholars of aesthetics as well, who did not feel the need to study a text that would not seem to contain nothing but architectural discourses." We cannot dwell any further. In this post we have already expressed many wishes; the last one is that the essay “On the beauty” by Galiani would finally know the fortune to be printed.