Giuseppe Vasi
Giuseppe Vasi (27 August 1710 – 16 April 1782) was an Italian engraver and architect best known for his vedute, detailed views of places, especially Rome.
He was born in Corleone, Sicily, and trained as a printmaker in Palermo. Around 1736 he moved to Rome, where Cardinal Troiano Acquaviva d'Aragona supported him and he met artists like Sebastiano Conca, Luigi Vanvitelli and Ferdinando Fuga. He worked for Calcografia Camerale, Rome's public engraving office, making panoramas of the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps.
Vasi later published his own views for travelers. The first major series, Vedute di Roma sul Tevere (Views of the Tiber), appeared about 1743 and became part of Magnificenze di Roma antica e moderna. He also hosted the young Giovanni Battista Piranesi in his workshop for a time, helping shape Piranesi’s engraving technique.
From 1747 to 1761 he produced about ten volumes with roughly 240 engravings of Rome. He also made 15 tablet engravings of opera scenes designed by Vincenzo Re; some are in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Vasi was a cartographer as well. His giant map of Rome, finished in the early 1760s after many years of work, is his best-known map. As an author, he contributed nine of the ten volumes of Magnificenze II–X and the Itinerario Istruttivo. The Itinerario, published in the 1760s, was very popular and was translated into French and English and reprinted for years.
By the 1760s Piranesi’s work had eclipsed him, and Vasi faded from memory for a long time. A revival began in 1981 with a monograph by Luisa Scalabroni, and later research by Paolo Coen and Allan Ceen. Today Vasi is recognized as an important figure in the Roman veduta, with his own distinctive style.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:15 (CET).