La mappa della Palata. Gli anni bolognesi di Egnazio Danti

The paper 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 near 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 in the lowlands between Bologna and Ferrara and in the Apennines area: they improved their properties in the lowlands through deforestation and land reclamation, as other noble families. The Palata map shows the troubled relationships between the estate, the other aristocratic properties and the lands managed by rural communities and celebrates the political and economic value of Pepoli family within the Papal State.