The work, published for the first time in Rome in 1593 by the heirs of Giovanni Gigliotti, is an encyclopedia where the personifications of abstract concepts, such as Peace, Freedom or Prudence, characterized by attributes are described in alphabetical order. and symbolic colors. In 1603 the text was republished in Rome, by the types of Lepido Facij and dedicated to Lorenzo Salviati, expanded with over 400 entries and with numerous woodcut images with the title Iconologia overo Decription of different images taken from antiquity and of one's own invention. In 1611 the text was republished in Padua by the typographer Pietro Paolo Tozzi, with a greater number of woodcuts, probably not to be attributed to the author who in 1613 at the Heredi typography of Matteo Florimi in Siena, republished it, dedicating it to Filippo d' Averardo Salviati and with the addition of 200 new voices and new illustrations by the author.