Mapping the Eternal City: Rodolfo Lanciani's Forma Urbis Romae.

This article critically examines Rodolfo Lanciani’s Forma Urbis Romae (1893–1901), a multi-layered, color-coded map of Rome that integrates the third-century Severan marble map of the city, known as the Forma Urbis, into a modern cartographic narrative. Lanciani’s map, widely used by classical researchers, visually represents Rome’s historical evolution while embedding fragments of the Severan marbles to assert a political and ideological vision of Rome as the “Eternal City” and the capital of unified Italy. The article highlights Lanciani’s selective incorporation and omission of archaeological and scholarly information—particularly regarding contested sites like the Capitoline Hill and the Vittorio Emanuele monument—demonstrating how his map functions as a political document that shapes public memory and legitimizes national authority through cartographic discourse. Additionally, Lanciani’s 1903 mural installation of the Severan fragments in the Capitoline Museum further reinforced this narrative by physically linking ancient and modern Rome under the Italian monarchy.