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, the Netherlands and Germany.
A complete edition of his works appeared at Venice (28 vols., 8vo in 1790).
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.