During the cultural policy promoted by Pio II (1458-1464) and Paolo II (1464-1471), the rediscovery of Classical Antiquity became the dominant orientation to which the production of the papal scriptorium looked at, in anticipation of the mature season of the 'all'antica' illumination developed under the papacy of Sisto IV della Rovere (1471-1484). In the Eternal City, every prominent member of the clergy was surrounded by his own court, with circles of intellectuals and a personal library: this attracted illuminators with the most various backgrounds, transforming Rome in an eclectic forge of artistic experimentation. The new humanistic manuscript affirmed thanks to Pope Piccolomini's artistic patronage allowed to slowly unify the plurality of the stylistic proposals into an original school distinguishable as “Roman”, which is not simply a derivation of the Florentine models of Classical revival. This new language is primarily expressed through the luxury manuscripts of Pio II's literary works, produced in multiple presentation copies, often in very close collaborations, by the “miniatori di Sua Santità”: Andrea da Firenze, Jacopo da Fabriano and Niccolò Polani. The latter, in particular, imported in Rome the first Renaissance miniature developed between Padua and Venice. Some unknown manuscripts of his Roman production show, in fact, the use of antiquarian and archaeological elements in the style of Mantegna, along with early medieval ornamental motifs, such as the decorative interlace patterns, adopted in Venice with a reuse operation by Andrea Contrario and Cristoforo Cortese during the second quarter of the 15th century.