La Costa di Barbaria Fra Capo di Rosa

Following the footmark treaced by the colonial conquests and inside the great chart production the West India Company promoted, a lot very specific Atlases for sailors have been realized in Holland; some of them described the North Sea, or the Atlantic Sea or the whole world (H. Doncker, De Zee-Atlas, 1659; P. Goos, De Zee-Spiegel, 1650), few of them were about the Mediterranean Sea ( J.A. Colom, Colom de la Mer Mediterrannée, 1644). At the same time, in Italy, some publishers started to print Italian sea charts (Robert Dudley, Dell'arcano del mare, 1647). We have then to consider Levanto’s work inside this contest, for it was a very accurate and detailed one. To better understand the effort he put in this work, we must read the dedication “Al lettore” (To the reader), where it is said that the author has a great "prattica di passa 20 anni di navigatione" (20 years experience as a sailor) which he wants now to share with others through the moaning of the press. Apart from being the first Italian sea Atlas, entirely dedicated to the Mediterranean Sea, this is also a typographical masterpiece, due to all the xylographies and engraved big-size charts. In the XVI century, in fact, Italy was characterized by the realization of refined maps, apart from literary works or scientific branches of learning, which of course were enhanced by the clearness of the iconographic adornment, made up by the beautiful sea charts. 1664 First part of the Specchio del Mare