ROSSI, Giovanni Giacomo de
(b. 1627, Roma, d. 1691, Roma)

Biography

Italian printer and publisher active in Rome. He inherited the important Rome based printing business originally founded by his father, Giuseppe de Rossi (1570-1639), in 1633. It was hard work and dedication, from 1633 to 1691, that ultimately pushed the firm to the heights of its success. By the mid-17th century the Rossi firm was considered the most active and important press in Rome.

Cartographically most of Rossi's work was issued in conjunction with the mapmaker Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola (1643-1695), with whom he issued the remarkable Italian baroque Atlas Mercurio Geografico with maps by Cantelli (the first edition is undated; a second edition appeared in 1692.

In addition to maps, the Rossi firm produced a vast corpus of prints that include the work of Gimbattista Piranesi, Benedetto Castiglione, Pietro Testa and Giovan Francesco Grimaldi.

The Rossi firm continued to flourish though several generations.