Subiaco Press
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The Subiaco Press was a printing press in Subiaco, Italy. The Press was established in 1464 by the German monks Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweinheim in the Church of Santa Scholastica at Subiaco. It was the first printing press in Italy.
The first book printed at Subiaco was a Donatus; it has not, however, been preserved. This was followed by Cicero's De Oratore in September 1465 (which is extant - a copy is in the Buchgewerbehaus at Leipzig). The next book was Lactantius's De divinis institutionibus printed in October 1465. In 1467 Augustine's The City of God was printed. These early books are notable for their typography. Unlike earlier German books they were not printed in blackletter or gothic type. Instead, they were printed in a "half Roman" type, as in Italy there was a desire to use Roman characters. Furthermore, Lactantius's De divinis institutionibus contains the world's first Greek printed characters. These were used for the extensive quotes in Greek which employed mobile letters now called "Subiaco type."
In 1467 Pannartz and Sweinheim left Subiaco and settled in Rome.
