Egnazio Danti’s Map of the Palata Estate and the Lands of the Sixteenth-Century Bolognese Aristocracy: Practical and Symbolic Dimensions of Estate Surveying in the Renaissance

The present study aims at analyzing a little-known work of Egnazio Danti, author of the Vatican Gallery of Maps: the Palata map (1579) is a large scale representation of the estate of a noble family from Bologna, placed in the lowlands between the city and the borders with the Este Duchy. The map was realized during Danti’s stay in Bologna, after his Florence period, when he drew the maps in the Sala della Guardaroba Nuova in Palazzo Vecchio, and before his transfer to Rome at the service of Pope Gregorio XIII. The Palata estate is one of the land investments of Pepoli counts: they improved their properties in the lowlands between Bologna and Ferrara through deforestation and land reclamation, as other noble families. The map is preceded by a sketchbook where Danti drew villages, castles, villas, churches, mills, etc. during a month of land surveying works in the Bolognese territory, thus illustrating the relationship between natural elements, settlements and road networks. The sketchbook reveals also the method and the technical instruments employed by the author in his work before and after this period. The Palata map shows the troubled relationships between the estate, the other aristocratic properties and the lands managed by rural communities and also highlights the significant role of land ownership and its positive characteristics at a time when it was clearly expanding in the territory of Bologna. The map, which is in connection with Danti works in Florence and in Rome, serves also another function: the glorification of Pepoli family and exhibition of its political and economic value within the Papal State.