'Sicuti traditum est a maioribus': Maffeo Vegio antiquario tra fonti classiche e medievali

The De rebus antiquis memorabilibus basilicae S. Petri Romae by Maffeo Vegio (1407-1458) gives a picture of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican before the radical restoration decided by pope Nicholas V (1447-1455). The treatise has always been considered as a collection of inscriptions and antiquarian data about the Constantinian temple. The identification of classic and medieval sources has now given a key to the writer’s historical workshop and to his project. Vegio’s treatise aims at re-establishing the literary genre of the descriptiones basilicarum, not ignoring the most recent theories of humanistic historiography but not discarding the medieval bibliographical tools. The result is a book hovering between past and present but still an important contribute to the historiographical thought in the Italian Quattrocento.The De rebus antiquis memorabilibus basilicae S. Petri Romae by Maffeo Vegio (1407-1458) gives a picture of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican before the radical restoration decided by pope Nicholas V (1447-1455). The treatise has always been considered as a collection of inscriptions and antiquarian data about the Constantinian temple. The identification of classic and medieval sources has now given a key to the writer’s historical workshop and to his project. Vegio’s treatise aims at re-establishing the literary genre of the descriptiones basilicarum, not ignoring the most recent theories of humanistic historiography but not discarding the medieval bibliographical tools. The result is a book hovering between past and present but still an important contribute to the historiographical thought in the Italian Quattrocento.A