Genova

At the top center, under the upper border, is the title: GENOVA. The coat of arms of the city is depicted at the top left. A numerical legend of 58 references to notable places and monuments is engraved along the lower edge, distributed over ten columns. The editorial imprint follows Matteo Florimj for. Orientation provided by a rose of eight winds, without however reporting its indication (north is at the top).

Perspective plan of the city, published by Matteo Florimi in Siena. Based on the Lafreri model Il dissegno della nobilissima Citta di GENOVA con il numero delle cose piu notabili di essa (1573) and on subsequent replicas, represents without modifications the state of the city in the mid-sixteenth century. The numerical legend remains unchanged and consists of 58 key-references; the coat of arms of the city, at the top right, follows the maps by Duchetti and Cartaro (1581), while the ornamental sign after the last number of the legend takes up that of an anonymous map of the end of the century (Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo pl. 1113).

“The map of Genoa designed by Antonio Lafreri - ROMAE apud Antonium Lafrerij Anno Domini MDLXXIII - introduces a new iconographic model of the city, which is depicted through an overlapping of planes which makes it difficult to read the planimetric layout. In this the author still follows the iconographic model of the fifteenth-century view. In an attempt to make the map more readable, he tries to bring together the buildings in large lots so as to allow the identification of some strategic road axes. On the contrary, the walls are very well defined, updated with the restructuring completed around 1549, based on a project by Antonio da Sangallo and Giovanni Maria Olgiati. However, the palaces of Galeazzo Alessi and Giovan Battista Castello are not present. It can be said that, despite the dating to 1573, Lafreri's map depicts the state of the city in the mid-16th century. Benevolo describes it as "a compromise, perhaps deriving from an older image, between a marginal view and a rudimentary oblique projection of the town, with north at the top" (cf. Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo p. 2176).

Etching and engraving, on contemporary laid paper without watermark, small restorations in the lower part, trace of central fold and perfectly restored paper tear, overall in good condition.

Very rare work, recorded for only 5 institutional examples according Bifolco-Ronca (cf. Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo, p. 2183).

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. 1114; Elisa Boffa, Un tipografo calabrese a Siena: Matteo Florimi, in “Accademia dei Rozzi” (2013): II, n. 19; H.A.M. van der Heijden, Matteo Florimi (+1613) – Landkarten und Stadtplanverleger in Siena, in “Florilegium Cartographicum”, Lipsia (1993): n. 25; Giubbini (1970): n. 4; L’Immagine delle città italiane (1998): pp. 143-144, n. 29; cfr. Poleggi (1977): p. 74, n. 38, fig. 45.