Elaborating Time in Space: Guidebooks to Rome Divided into Daily Itineraries from Fioravante Martinelli to Gregorio Roisecco (1644 – 1725)

This article aims to analyse the evolution of the guidebooks that were created to provide a comprehensive overview of Rome in a relatively short period. In these books, the urban space is conceptualised in terms of time, which becomes the primary variable to be considered when planning a visit to the city. This article concentrates on a specific period of approximately a century, during which two significant guidebooks were published: Roma ricercata nel suo sito (1644), written by Fioravante Martinelli, and Roma ampliata e rinovata (1725), edited by Gregorio Roisecco. For this purpose, the article presents two digital maps, which, through the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS), make it possible to compare routes that were suggested, buildings that were described, and views that were reproduced in these guidebooks to Rome. The maps visualise topographically how each book configures and organizes space and time, recovering the dimension of practical utility that these volumes have had for centuries.