Vitruvio - Architettura - 1758

Great in folio - The alchemy of proportions with which Naples dreamed of re founding civilization
This sumptuous Neapolitan edition of 1758, the first in the translation and commentary by Marquis Berardo Galiani, represents one of the peaks of the Vitruvian renaissance during the Bourbon age. Produced in an intellectual climate nourished by Giambattista Vico's thought, the work becomes not only a manual of ancient architecture but a treatise on the very structure of civilization, understood as proportional order, measure, harmony, and history. The twenty-five engraved plates, the frontispiece, the typographic headpiece, and the impressive critical apparatus offer a dialogue between Roman text, eighteenth-century erudition, and the enlightened ideology of Charles III's monarchy. The copy described here, fresh and with wide margins, preserves the editorial grandeur that made this edition a reference for architects, antiquarians, and art theorists.
Market value
The first edition of 1758 is highly sought after in the antiquarian market for its typographic quality, rich iconography, and historical-critical significance. Complete and well-preserved copies generally range from €3,500 to €7,500, with fluctuations depending on the condition of the plates, the margins, and the presence of notable provenance. Particularly fresh specimens, like the one described, tend to reach the upper end of the range. The work appears relatively rare among the leading specialized dealers.

Physical description and condition
Binding from the early 19th century in half leather, smooth spine with gilt title within an orange cartouche; boards in marbled paper; corners covered. Frontispiece engraved in copper; typographic title page with portrait of the dedicatee; 25 engraved plates accompanied by explanatory texts. Some foxing and reddening; a few wormholes; pages sometimes showing folds or slight waviness. Ex libris Giulio Segantini. Pages (2); 8nn; 32; 462; 4nn; 52nn; (2).

Full title and author
The architecture of M. Vitruvius Pollio with the Italian translation and commentary by Marquis Berardo Galiani ... dedicated to the Majesty of King Charles of the Two Sicilies
Naples, at the Simonian Printing House, 1758.
Marco Vitruvius Pollio.
Berardo Galiani

Context and Significance
Galiani's edition is situated within the most authoritative Neoclassical revival of eighteenth-century Italy. The commentary, enriched by the author's Vichian education, interprets Vitruvius as a key to understanding the origins of the arts, the history of peoples, and the rational construction of space. The philological component is supported by extensive reflection on proportions, Roman building techniques, and the connection between architecture, symbolism, and civilization. Millard highlights the work as one of the greatest cultural achievements of Naples under Charles III, an era marked by reforms, academies, and new archaeological ambitions (Pompeii, Herculaneum, Portici). The engraved plates help visualize a modernized Vitruvius, capable of engaging with the needs of eighteenth-century architects and the antiquarian fervor that fueled the cultural identity of the Bourbon kingdom.

Biography of the Author
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect and engineer of the 1st century BC, was the author of De Architectura, the most important architectural treatise of antiquity to have survived in its entirety. His work, based on the principles of utilitas, firmitas, and venustas, shaped European architectural theory for centuries, from medieval abbeys to Renaissance classicism and up to 18th-century neoclassicism.
Berardo Galiani (1724–1784), marquis, scholar, and translator, was the brother of the famous economist and diplomat Ferdinando Galiani. Educated by Giambattista Vico, he brought a historical and philosophical sensibility to antiquarian studies that transformed Vitruvian translation into a work of cultural interpretation, not merely linguistic reproduction.

Printing history and circulation
First edition: Naples, Di Simone, 1758. The high-quality print run was intended to circulate among the Neapolitan academic circles, including architects, engineers, educated nobility, and antiquarians engaged in archaeological investigations of the kingdom. The folio format, the iconographic apparatus, and the editorial care make it one of the most sought-after Vitruvian editions of the 18th century. It was reprinted and reproduced in various forms in the following century, but no 19th-century edition matched the monumentality of the 1758 original.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Millard, Italian and Spanish Books, 162.
See ICCU catalogs and Vitruvian repertories of the 18th century.
For the archaeological and cultural context: Pagano – Leone, Naples in the Age of Charles III.
For the Vitruvian inheritance: Kruft, A History of Architectural Theory.