Bologna

In the upper right-hand corner, in a box, is engraved the title: BOLOGNA. Along the lower margin, spread over thirteen columns, is an alphanumeric legend of 159 key-references (A-M and 1-149) to notable places. It is followed, at lower right, by the imprint Matteo Florimi forma. Jn Siena.

Matteo Florimi's plan of the city is a faithful derivation of Claudio Duchetti's work (1582), which in turn was based on the first printed representation of the plan of Bologna, engraved by Agostino Carracci and printed by publisher Giovanni Rossi in 1581. It is distinguished by the title at upper right, enclosed in a simple rectangular frame. The bottom legend, also alphanumeric, contains only 149 cross-references, instead of the 179 found in Duchetti's model. Clearly delineated appear the religious buildings and, within the Roman perimeter, the new cathedral of St. Peter and the church of St. Petronius are immediately recognizable, reported with great precision not only in terms of location but also of construction details. Outside the Roman quadrilateral, also recognizable are the complex of St. Stephen, St. Proloco and the cathedral of Sts. Naborre and Felix. Great attention is therefore paid to the representation of the defensive structure, with the plan showing two sections of walls that have disappeared today; one along the Reno Canal and another between the menagerie of Castiglione street and the abbey of S. Proloco.

Etching and engraving, a dark impression on contemporary laid paper with watermark "double circle and fleur-de-lis with crown" (similar to Woodward no. 111), trimmed to copperplate and with margins, traces of restoration in central fold, otherwise in good condition.

Rare work, surveyed for only 11 institutional examples in Bifolco-Ronca (see Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo, p. 2128).

Matteo Florimi (Polistena c. 1540 - Siena 1613) was a publisher and merchant of books and prints. Of Calabrian origin, he settled in Siena in 1581, with a store “in Banchi”. Matteo Florimi's chalcographic activity was several times joined by master engravers such as Cornelis Galle, Arnoldo Arnoldi, Pieter de Iode, Jan Sadeler and artists such as Francesco Vanni, Ventura Salimbeni and Alessandro Casolani, with whom the printer collaborated in the preparation of religious subjects. Florimi's cartographic activity produced prints of many cities and territories around the world, which were never drawn for him, but were manipulations of already existing reliefs, or of maps published by other printers. In the second half of the sixteenth century, Florimi was far-sighted in devoting himself to the production of bird's-eye views of cities as faithfully as possible.  Florimi copied some maps by Antonio Lafreri, Claude Duchet, Abraham Ortelius. As far as map engraving work was concerned, in 1600, Matteo Florimi called the Flemish engraver Arnoldo degli Arnoldi to work in his workshop with the promise of greater compensation than that bestowed upon him by Giovanni Antonio Magini, with whom the artist was working. This offer by Florimi triggered the wrath of Magini, who, though not naming him, called him an "envious counterfeiter" for stealing such a skilled cartographer from him. The collaboration between Florimi and Arnoldi lasted only two years (1600-1602), but it was quite productive: together they printed the Stato di Siena, la Choronografia Tusciae, la Nuova descrittione della Lombardia, l’Europa, l’America and the Descrittione Universale della Terra.

Bibliografia

Bifolco-Ronca, Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo (2018), tav. 1079; Elisa Boffa, Un tipografo calabrese a Siena: Matteo Florimi, in “Accademia dei Rozzi” (2013): II, n. 14; H.A.M. van der Heijden, Matteo Florimi (+1613) – Landkarten und Stadtplanverleger in Siena, in “Florilegium Cartographicum”, Lipsia (1993): n. 20; Cartografia Rara (1986): n. 22; Fauser (1978): n. 1594.