Anne-Madeleine Goulet and Michela Berti, eds. Noble Magnificence. Culture of the Performing Arts in Rome 1644-1470. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2024

This is a review of Noble Magnificence: Culture of the Performing Arts in Rome (1644–1740), edited by Anne-Madeleine Goulet and Michela Berti. The volume is the outcome of the ERC-funded PerformArt project. Bringing together thirty essays by an international team, it redefines the concept of aristocratic magnificence through the lens of performance, music, theatre, dance, and spectacle as central means of social representation in Baroque Rome. The volume moves beyond art-historical paradigms and material culture, reconstructing the financial networks and ceremonial practices documented in aristocratic family archives, thus unveiling the manifold facets of patronage. The collection’s scope and richness are remarkable, and Noble Magnificence stands as a foundational resource demonstrating how performance transformed magnificence from a moral virtue into a dynamic language of power, identity, and display. KEYWORDS: Rome; magnificence; performing arts; patronage; aristocracy