First edition of Blaeu’s celebrated Latin town atlas of Rome and Lazio region. The two volume were issued together and should stand as such. The same year, Blaeu also published a volume devoted the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. The first volume lavishly illustrates and describes the splendind historical sites once scattered throughout the Papal States in alphabetical order, from Ancona, Ascoli, Assisi and Avignon to Bologna, Cesena, Gubbio, Fabriano, Fano, Faenza, Ferrara, Imola, Loreto, Macerata, Orvieto, Perugia, Pesaro, Rimini, San Marino, Spoleto, Todi, Tivoli, Viterbo and Urbino. It opens with an overview of Baroque Rome, including a remarkable map of the city with the emblems of the 14 rioni.

The second volume focuses on the beauties of the Eternal City, beginning with a double-page map of the ancient Rome and dwelling in particular on theatres, stadia and obelisks. The latter subject is elucidated in its historical aspects and connections with the ancient Egypt, providing interpretations of the hieroglyphics (including Kircher’s) and illustrating in detail, amongst the other examples, Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi and the transportation of the Vatican obelisk in 1586 (the latter in an exquisite series of 14 plates, featuring two folding ones on four pages). All faces and inscriptions of the Roman obelisks are carefully depicted, mostly relying on Kircher.