ALFARANO, TIBERIO

ALFARANO, Tiberio. — Born in Gerace (Reggio Calabria) in 1544, he was already serving at St Peter’s and from 1567 was a beneficed cleric there. He died in 1596, leaving his goods to the Compagnia del Santissimo Sacramento and his rich library to the Jesuits. By his own devotion and at the urging of Canon Giacomo Ercolano, he sought to preserve for posterity a record of what was being demolished of the primitive basilica of St Peter during the new construction designed by Michelangelo. At first he conceived his work as a supplement to the descriptions by Pietro di Manlio and Vegio (q.v.), but later he expanded it into a commentary on a detailed plan of the old basilica which he himself drew up in successive versions (1571, 1576, 1582). A copperplate engraving of the plan was printed in 1590, but the accompanying text remained unpublished; a definitive copy was presented to Gregory XIII in 1582. The author’s manuscript, which survives, continued to be corrected by him until his death. These notes and his plan, together with the *Instrumenta authentica* of Grimaldi (q.v.), are the richest and most important sources for knowledge of the ancient basilica of St Peter; exact and reliable in all that he says he saw, they were widely used by later writers on the subject, often without acknowledgment of the source. — See Pl. LXIV.