Cascatelle di Tivoli

Plate from Raccolta delle principali vedute di Roma e dei suoi contorni published by Tommaso Cuccioni in 1843.

Gaetano Cottafavi was an Italian engraver and draftsman. Born in Correggio, Gaetano Cottafavi was active in Rome between 1828 and 1864. Gaetano Cottafavi, "Memory on the Excavation of the Appian Way," engraving, 1851. The practical guide to the city of Rome, a sort of address book published under the name "Mercurio di Roma", noted in 1843: "Cottafavi Gaetano, da Coreggio di Modena, disegnatore, ed incisore di architettura, e paesaggio, via del pozzo n. 54". His work as an engraver was part of the 19th-century Roman landscape movement, inspired by the Roman engravings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Giuseppe Vasi. His engravings were appreciated by foreigners on the Grand Tour. In 1824, Antonio Nibby published a revised tourist guide to the city of Rome, with itineraries to be completed over several days, entitled Itinerario di Roma e delle sue vicini compilati [...] secondo il metodo del Vasi, which was updated to include the restoration of ancient Roman buildings and ruins, as well as new constructions. Of this revised work, which would go through several subsequent reprints, the best-known and most valuable edition is the one with images engraved by Gaetano Cottafavi and Domenico Amici.