THE ARTISANS OF THE BOOK

Beginning in the 16th century, the dynasties of printers arose in Tivoli. They were simultaneously engravers, founders and typographers.

Under the rule of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este and his nephew Luigi, the local culture of tivoli enjoyed a renewed impulse, benefiting from the presence of illustrious men from the este court, which became a kind of circle of men of genius and a powerhouse of studies.

• One of the responses to this new spirit of rebirth being instilled into the town was Renato Gentili's work entitled "Brevissima et utilissima istruttione del modo che ha di tener il Cortegiano, o cittadino, per sąpersi rettamente et convenientemente governare nelle Corti o nella Cittą Ritratta da i precetti di Plutarco" (Concise and useful instruction on the way in which the courtier, or citizen, should correctly and appropriately conduct himself in the court or in the city, derived from the precepts of plutarch). ".

This opusculum, though largely unknown, is of fundamental importance, because it represents the first publication undoubtedly printed in a Tivoli printshop, established by the daring typographer Domenico Piolati.

• Francesco Bandini Piccolomini Archbishop of Siena, friend and guest of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, founded the Accademia degli Agevoli with its seat in the Villa D'Este, gathering together in it the most illustrious minds of the court.
• The Academy boasted of some celebrated members, including Flaminio Nobili, Umberto Foglietta, Marcantonio Mureto and cardinal Scipione Gonzaga, first reviser of Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme Liberata.
• Tivoli boasts of the honour of being among the first Italian cities to receive the art of printing, after the first book was printed by Gutenberg in Mainz. It was preceded only by Subiaco (1465), Rome (1466) and Viterbo (1488).
• A fascinating correspondence enables us to follow this extraordinary episode.
• An historical tradition records that a certain Francesco called Il Tedesco (The German) established a printshop in Tivoli in the 16th century, in a house adjacent to the convent of Sant'Anna.

In the Acts of the Comune we read that on 23 december Domenico Piolati presented a petition for a licence to print in Tivoli. The prior Vincenzo Raulino, with acumen and far-sightedness, suggested that "A licence be given to the printer, to be the honour of our community, and that the rent of his house be paid". The proposal was approved almost unanimously, given the exceptional opportunity offered to the town to enter history.

The other work printed by Piolati is "Lucta Tyburtina, ad Illustriss. et reuerendiss. D.D.Aloysium Cardinalem Estensem. Autore Steph. Theueneto Gallo. Tybure, Apud Dominicum Piolatum. 1578. Cum licentia Superiorum".

• Piolati kept the printshop open for little more than a year. His activity, however, was so much appreciated that the authorities recalled him, offering him more tempting conditions so as to keep him in the town.

The Town Council, in its meeting of 16 January, approved a grant to Piolati : "two scudi per month from the day he begins to print again in Tivoli (...) and that the works he prints be exempt from any tax".

The Acts of the Comune, dated 21 December of that year, report the request of the famous Roman printer Giacomo Mascardi. It should be recalled that most of the dramatic works and musical compositions of the first half of the 17th century were printed in Mascardi's printshop in Rome.

• The well-known printer wanted to establish a kind of branch of the Roman printing house in Tivoli, pledging to "operate it continuously". It would, he said, "bring not only honour and reputation, but also profit and utility to the said town". In exchange Mascardi asked for an allowance, as well as lodgings. This latter was not granted to him, with the result that Mascardi left Tivoli deprived of a printshop.

Another famous Roman printer applied to the town, Giambattista Robletti. This time the Town Council did not repeat its error and granted him a house, as well as twenty-five scudi per year in order not to let this exceptional opportunity slip through its fingers.

Robletti remained in Tivoli for eighteen years; then he absented himself, leaving as his deputy Giacomo Facciotti and not returning to Tivoli till 1643.

• Having failed to fulfil the continuity of activity that had been requested of him, the Town Council ruled in favour of another printer, Marcantonio Fedele. .

On hearing these developments, Robletti rushed to the Comune, promising to run his printshop with greater care and thus obtaining a regular contract for a three-year period beginning from 15 may 1643.

• Unfortunately, the Comune found itself in such reduced circumstances during these years that it was forced to withdraw its allowances to various activities. Robletti was thus forced to close his printshop.

A Roman printer, Francesco Felice Mancini, offered to establish his printing house in Tivoli for only twenty-five scudi and the majority of the Town Council were glad to accept the proposal, recognizing as it did how much 'profit and honour' the art of printing would bring to the town.

• At this point, Robletti reappeared on the scene. Feeling himself defrauded of a right, he claimed a further two years of contract.
• The Town Council granted him this, but on the same conditions it had offered to Mancini, who in the meantime had hastened to establish himself in Tivoli and began to print a history of the town, the Historie Tiburtine by Francesco Marzi.

Onofrio Piccinini of Velletri proposed to establish a printing house in Tivoli, since at the time the town was without one. For eighteen scudi per year he obtained a permit to print "things for the public".

In the 19th century, the history of printing in Tivoli had some extraordinary episodes. Gerardo Majella, custodian of the prison, to print the poster for a concert given by Liszt in the Villa d'Este, cut out the letters and stuck them to a table. Then, he inked them, placed a sheet of paper over them and rolled a rudimentary drum in the shape of a rolling pin over them. He was helped in the enterprise by the prison inmates, who were allowed to return home in the evenings, so long as they showed up again on the following morning.

• Not long after, the first printing press was purchased.