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Onofrio Panvinio

Onofrio Panvinio O.S.A. (Latin: Onuphrius Panvinius; 23 February 1529 – 27 April 1568) was an Italian Augustinian friar, historian and antiquary who was the librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.

Born~Died Feb 23, 1530 ~ Apr 27, 15680 views in 30 daysLast edited Oct 15, 2026, 5:49 PM

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Details

Born ~ Died: Feb 23, 1530 ~ Apr 27, 1568
Born: Giacomo Panvino, (1530-02-20)20 February 1530, Verona, Republic of Venice
Died: 27 April 1568(1568-04-27) (aged 38), Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily
Resting place: Convent of S. Agostino, Palermo
Parent(s): Onofrio Panvino and Bartolomea Campagna
Known for: La Biblioteca Aprosiana (1673)
Occupation: Monk, historian and antiquary
Religion: Roman Catholicism
Order: Order of Saint Augustine
Ordination: 1541
Location: 45.4386, 10.9928

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Contents

1.Life and work
2.Publications
3.Notes

Onofrio Panvinio O.S.A. (Latin: Onuphrius Panvinius; 23 February 1529 – 27 April 1568) was an Italian Augustinian friar, historian and antiquary who was the librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.

Life and work

Panvinio was born in Verona. At the age of eleven, he entered the order of Order of Saint Augustine and in 1539 he went to Rome and became fascinated by the city, whose topography, epigraphy, history ancient and medieval, writers and great papal families he would document through a spectacularly productive brief lifetime.

After graduating in Rome with a Bachelor of Arts in 1553 and teaching the novices of his order in Rome and Florence, in 1557, he obtained the degree of Doctor of Theology. He visited the libraries of Italy, pursuing historical research and went to Germany in 1559. Refusing the position of bishop, he accepted the more welcome office of corrector and reviser of the books of the Vatican Library in 1556. He died in Palermo while accompanying his friend and protector, Cardinal Farnese, to the Synod of Monreale, 1568.

He was recognized as one of the greatest church historians and archaeologists of his time. The scholarly printer Paulus Manutius called him antiquitatis helluo ("a glutton for antiquity"), and Julius Caesar Scaliger styled him pater omnis historiae ("father of all history").

His great archaeological map of ancient Rome was produced in 1565.¹ About the same time, he began to collaborate with the French engraver Étienne Dupérac, who continued to provide illustrations for posthumous printings of Panvinio's works. Not all of his numerous historical, theological, archaeological, and liturgical works were published, even posthumously; some are preserved in manuscript in the Vatican Library.

His portrait by Tintoretto is in the Galleria Colonna.²

Publications

Fasti et triumphi Romanorum a Romulo usque ad Carolum V, (Giacomo Strada, Venice, 1557), "Fasti and triumphs of the Romans from Romulus to Charles V";
A revised edition of Carolus Sigonius's Fasti consulares (Venice, 1558);
De comitiis imperatoriis (Basel, 1558);
De republica Romana (Venice, 1558); "On the Roman Republic";
Epitome Romanorum pontificum (Venice, 1557); "Brief history of the Roman pontiffs";
A revised edition of Bartolomeo Platina's De vitis pontificum (Venice); "On the lives of the popes";
XXVII Pontif. Max. elogia et imagines (Rome, 1568); "Elogies and images of twenty-seven pontiffs";
De sibyllis et carminibus sibyllinis (Venice, 1567) ("Of sibyls and Sibylline oracles");
Chronicon ecclesiasticum a C. Julii Caesaris tempore usque ad imp. Maximilianum II (Cologne, 1568); "Ecclesiastical chronicle from the time of Julius Caesar to that of Emperor Maximilian";
De episcopatibus, titulis, et diaconiis cardinalium (Venice, 1567);"of the bishoprics, tituli and diaconates of the cardinals";
De ritu sepeliendi mortuos apud veteres Christianos (Cologne, 1568); "Of burial rites for the dead among the early Christians";³
De praecipuis urbis Romae santioribusque basilicis (Rome, 1570; Cologne, 1584);
De primatu Petri et apostolicae selis potestate (Verona 1589): "Of the primacy of Peter and the power of the apostolic see";
Libri X de varia Romanorum pontificum creatione (Venice, 1591);
De bibliotheca pontificia vaticana (Tarragona, 1587); "On the pontifical Vatican Library";

Karl Gersbach, OSA, has published numerous articles on aspects of Panvinio's career. Philip Jacks set his career in the context of early antiquarian investigations in The Antiquarian and the Myth of Antiquity: The Origins of Rome in Renaissance Thought. (Cambridge University Press) 1993. Jean-Louis Ferrary's study, Onofrio Panvinio et les antiquités romaines (Rome) 1996, focuses on Panvinio's works on Roman antiquity. For a modern biography of Panvinio, see Stefan Bauer, The Invention of Papal History: Onofrio Panvinio between Renaissance and Catholic Reform (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Notes

"The map, the description, the monuments of ancient Rome, have been elucidated by the diligence of the antiquarian and the student," wrote Edward Gibbon in the last chapter of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1787), but in a footnote (ch. 13, note 75 on-line text) remarked Bernard de Montfaucon's dismissal of Panvinius, as a scholar qui omnes obscuravit, "who obscured everything". ↩
"Jacopo Tintoretto – Onofrio Panvinio – Sala della Apoteosi". Galleria Colonna. Retrieved 22 August 2013. ↩
Panvinio's discussion of the Christian catacombs was text-based; the physical exploration of them was the life work of Antonio Bosio. ↩
Onuphrii Panvinii Veronensis De Ludis Circensibus Libri II - De Triumphis Liber unus - Quibus universa fere Romanorum veterum sacra, ritusque declarantur, ac figuris aeneis illustrantur, cum notis J. Argoli J.U.D. et additamento N. Pinelli, Padova, 1642. ↩

Life and work

His portrait by is in the .

This page is based on “Onofrio Panvinio” from English Wikipedia, (r1359335495) CC BY-SA 4.0 used under the license. The original authors are listed in its page history.

Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 5:49 PM · r141354 · Text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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"The map, the description, the monuments of ancient Rome, have been elucidated by the diligence of the antiquarian and the student," wrote Edward Gibbon in the last chapter of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1787), but in a footnote (ch. 13, note 75 on-line text) remarked Bernard de Montfaucon's dismissal of Panvinius, as a scholar qui omnes obscuravit, "who obscured everything". ↩
"Jacopo Tintoretto – Onofrio Panvinio – Sala della Apoteosi". Galleria Colonna. Retrieved 22 August 2013. ↩
Panvinio's discussion of the Christian catacombs was text-based; the physical exploration of them was the life work of Antonio Bosio. ↩
Onuphrii Panvinii Veronensis De Ludis Circensibus Libri II - De Triumphis Liber unus - Quibus universa fere Romanorum veterum sacra, ritusque declarantur, ac figuris aeneis illustrantur, cum notis J. Argoli J.U.D. et additamento N. Pinelli, Padova, 1642. ↩

"The map, the description, the monuments of ancient Rome, have been elucidated by the diligence of the antiquarian and the student," wrote Edward Gibbon in the last chapter of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1787), but in a footnote (ch. 13, note 75 on-line text) remarked Bernard de Montfaucon's dismissal of Panvinius, as a scholar qui omnes obscuravit, "who obscured everything". ↩
"Jacopo Tintoretto – Onofrio Panvinio – Sala della Apoteosi". Galleria Colonna. Retrieved 22 August 2013. ↩
Panvinio's discussion of the Christian catacombs was text-based; the physical exploration of them was the life work of Antonio Bosio. ↩
Onuphrii Panvinii Veronensis De Ludis Circensibus Libri II - De Triumphis Liber unus - Quibus universa fere Romanorum veterum sacra, ritusque declarantur, ac figuris aeneis illustrantur, cum notis J. Argoli J.U.D. et additamento N. Pinelli, Padova, 1642. ↩

Onofrio Panvinio

Life and work

Publications

Notes

Life and work

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Publications

Notes

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Onofrio Panvinio

Life and work

Publications

Notes

Footnotes

Life and work

Opinions 0

Publications

Notes

Footnotes

Other languages

Sub-pages

Nearby events

Life and work

Publications

Notes

Footnotes

Opinions 0