Antonio Labacco (ca. 1495-1559) was an Italian architect, engraver and writer. He is the author of Libro d'Antonio Labacco appartenente a l'architettvra nel qval si figvrano alcvne notabili antiqvita di Roma, first published in Rome in 1552. The earliest record we have of Labacco in Rome dates to 1526, when, together with the architects Antonio da Sangallo, Pier Francesco da Viterbo and Michele Sanmicheli, he worked for Pope Clement VII on the fortifications of Parma and Piacenza. After the sack of Rome in 1527, he was involved with restoration efforts in the caput mundi. It was also during this period that he began to measure and document ancient ruins more systematically. Labacco's book on architecture is arguably his most significant work, with engravings by his son Mario Labacco. In this book, Antonio Labacco tried to reconstruct a number of major ancient monuments in Rome on the basis of their remains. The history of the book's completion is very complex and a full account still remains to be written. There are several Roman editions appearing in 1557, 1558 and 1559. The first Venetian edition is dated to 1567 and a second edition is dated to 1570. The Johns Hopkins University owns a copy from the first Roman edition of Labacco's book, dated to 1552.
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