description Giovanni Maria Cassini Overview
Giovanni Maria Cassini was an Italian geographer, cartographer, and engraver active in Rome during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He is known for the Nuovo Atlante Geografico Universale, a multivolume geographical atlas containing engraved maps of the world and its regions. His work belongs to the European tradition of copperplate atlas production, combining contemporary geographical information with elaborate engraved presentation.
help Giovanni Maria Cassini FAQ
What atlas is Giovanni Maria Cassini best known for?
His best-known work is the *Nuovo Atlante Geografico Universale delineato sulle ultime osservazioni*. It was published in Rome in three volumes from 1792 to 1801, according to [Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/atlante_res-c2f30670-8baa-11dc-8e9d-0016357eee51_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/).
How many engraved plates are in Cassini's *Nuovo Atlante Geografico Universale*?
A catalog from Italy's Military Geographic Institute records 182 engraved plates across the three volumes [IGMI](https://igmi.esercito.difesa.it/prodotto/391726/). That makes it a substantial printed atlas rather than a single map sheet.
Was Giovanni Maria Cassini the same person as astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini?
No, they were different people. Giovanni Maria Cassini was the Roman geographer, cartographer, and engraver, while Giovanni Domenico Cassini was the earlier astronomer associated with the Paris Observatory and Saturn's Cassini Division.
What does the phrase 'delineato sulle ultime osservazioni' mean in Cassini's atlas title?
The phrase means that the maps were drawn from the latest geographic observations available to Cassini. It signals an attempt to present current geographic knowledge in a late-18th-century atlas, not a medieval map collection.
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