11
The visitor to Rome begins his itinerary in the papal gardens of the Vatican, whence he proceeds to other, mainly private collections; in addition to statues, portrait heads, and busts, Aldrovandi's book notes numerous reliefs carved in stone slabs (“tavole”), or on sarcophagi (“pili”), as well as inscriptions, particularly those in the palaces and vigne of Rodolfo Pio and Gentile Delfino, where they were intensively studied by scholars and epigraphers.
[Aldrovandis Interesse an Vasen = FN 18]
Beyond cataloguing antiquities, Aldrovandi visited the "studi", "camere" and "postcamere", and he describes their furnishings – bookshelves and tables, floors and ceilings – in much detail. He notes the books and manuscripts in the collections and the great variety of vases, inscriptions, instrumentaria, and coins; he notes the arrangement of objects – he calls it the "bel ordine" – and their display. Aldrovandi's descriptions of these more private rooms testifies to the liberal access he enjoyed to the most important Roman palaces, a privilege that was not a self-evident one, granted to everyone. [FN 19]
FN 18: See Brizzolara (n. 3 supra), p. 122: "(...) si può aggiungere che l'Aldrovandi non trattò solo delle opere sculturee, come farebbe credere il titolo dell'opera, ma diede notizia anche degli altri documenti archeologici conservati nelle collezioni, restituendoci inoltre preziose informazioni sui criteri espositivi di tali raccolte, come quella "in casa del Reverendissimo di Carpi"(...)". Regarding Aldrovandi’s system of classification, see Brizzolara, esp. p. 122, on Aldrovandi's tavole sinnotiche: "L'esigenza di ordinamento e di classificazione delle conoscenze acquisite, già indicata come uno dei tratti salienti del metodo aldrovandiano, trova poi un campo di applicazione anche nel terreno delle antiquitates, come testimoniano le tavole, pazientemente collazionate dall'Aldrovandi di Vocabula usati dagli antichi per indicare strumenti, oggetti vari e anche tipi di edifici".
FN 19: Boissard reports the difficulties he and others encountered in gaining access to collections in Rome.