1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Maffei, Francesco Scipione, Marchese di

MAFFEI, FRANCESCO SCIPIONE, Marchese di (1675–1755); Italian archaeologist and man of letters, was born at Verona on the 1st of June 1675. He studied for five years in Parma, at the Jesuit College, and afterwards from 1698 at Rome; and in 1703–1704 he took part as a volunteer in the war of succession, fighting on the Bavarian side at Donauwerth. In 1709 he began at Padua along with Apostolo Zeno and Valisnieri the Giornale dei letterati d’Italia, a literary periodical which had but a short career; and subsequently an acquaintance with the actor Riccoboni led him to exert himself for the improvement of dramatic art in Italy. His Merope, a tragedy, appeared in 1713; Teatro italiano, a small collection of works for presentation on the stage, in 1723–1725; and Le Ceremonie, an original comedy, in 1728. From 1718 he became specially interested in the archaeology of his native town, and his investigations resulted in the valuable Verona illustrata (1731–1732). Maffei afterwards devoted four years to travel in France, England, Holland and Germany. He died at Verona on the 11th of February 1755.

A complete edition of his works appeared at Venice (28 vols., 8vo) in 1790.