GIOVANNI MARANGONI. – Priest, archaeologist, born in Valdagno near Vicenza around 1672, died in Rome on 5 February 1753. In Rome, for about 40 years he was a collaborator of Bolletti, succeeding him as custodian of the cemeteries, specializing particularly in the search for the “Corpi Santi,” copying inscriptions and making drawings. In 1720, together with Bolletti, he discovered the cemetery area along the Via Salaria, identified as the cemetery of St Saturninus; he found the original marble slab of the Damasian poem in honor of the martyr beneath the pavement of the basilica of St Agnes. He also engaged in historical, biographical, and ascetical studies.
His collection of inscriptions and cemetery paintings, compiled in collaboration with Bolletti, was lost due to carelessness in 1727. His manuscript “De inventione corporum ss. Christi Martyrum Primi et Feliciani... in basilica S. Stephani in Monte Coelio Urbis nec non de illorum identitate ac translatione dissertatio...” remains unpublished (cod. Vat. lat., 9456). He published: Acta s. Victorini episcopi amiterii et Martyris illustrata... Rome 1740; Delle memorie sacre e profane dell'anfiteatro Flavio di Roma, ibid. 1746; Istoria dell'antichissimo oratorio o cappella di S. Lorenzo del Patriarchio Lateranense comunemente appellato Sancta Sanctorum e della celebre immagine del S. m. Salvatore detta Acheropita, ecc., ibid. 1747; Chronologia Romanorum Pontificum superstes in pariete australi Basilicae Sancti Pauli Viae Ostensis depicta..., ibid. 1749, etc. Important is the Vita del card. Marc' Antonio Barbarigo, vescovo di Montefiascone e Corneto (ed. E. Chierichetti, Montefiascone 1930, with a biographical note on M., pp. XXVIII-XLV).