Politics, Planning and Culture in Italian Cartography around 1600

Among all the different qualities and purposes of cartography, ever since its inception, cartography’s political and military use is certainly one of the most evident. Knowledge of the territory proved early on to be a crucial resource for governing and the administration of a state. However, it is in the 16th century that the production and use of maps specifically for this practical purpose became more and more frequent and widespread: the art of war, the systems of administering states and especially the colonial expansion of European states developed significantly. Maps also have artistic and cultural qualities, almost always present in both manuscript and printed maps: we can see this element of cartography in the surrounding ornamentation of frames, cartouches, coats of arms. These features are in fact even meaningful, since they include allegories and symbols that are important to understanding the purpose of a particular map. During the second half of the 16th century, various Italian states began to produce representations of their territory to improve the administration and management of its environmental and human components, to control leftover autonomous feudal entities and to protect borders. The present study refers to some cartographers, who worked in a part of Italy, the Po plain, notably near the Po delta. Marco Antonio Pasi served for the Este state, that dominated Ferrara until 1598; Giovan Battista Aleotti was employed for the Este court, then for the Papal state, that substituted the Este in the same territory; Luca Danese worked for the Papal state some years later. These are only some examples of the Italian cartographic production in that period. The cartographer who condenses the technical, administrative, political, military and cultural content of Italian cartography is undoubtedly Giovanni Antonio Magini from Padua: he planned to make a printed atlas of Italy, made up by 61 maps; moreover, he obtained the models he needed for his collection through contacts with the rulers of Italian states. So the atlas Italia, published posthumously, constitutes the finest compendium of Italian cartography between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century.