Testo e immagine: i codici manoscritti e le edizioni a stampa italiane della Geographia di Tolomeo

The humanist revival of geography in Western Europe coincided with the recovery of Ptolemy’s Geography and its translation into Latin that gave European intellectuals, who were unable to read Greek, access to Ptolemy’s work. The Geography accompanied with the first systematic map collection available in the 15th century enjoyed great success in learned circles. Among the most important Ptolemaic manuscript versions are the works of Nicolaus Germanus, a monk from Reichenbach operating in Florence and Ferrara, that are examined here: the copy for Borso of Este, Duke of Ferrara, serves as an example of the precious codices that were presented to monarchs, popes and aristocrats. The first editions in print date back to the 1470s: the earliest, without maps, was produced in Vicenza (1475); the second in Bologna (1477) and the third in Rome (1478), both with maps. The Bologna edition was clearly generated within the renowned university and engaged many prestigious artists and scholars from Bologna and Ferrara, yet the inconsistent quality of its maps render it a very controversial work. Only in the 16th century were Italian editions of Ptolemy’s Geography printed (in Venice), but by this time these works had lost their role as geographic references and become representative of ancient tradition.