Chorographia Tusciae

On the upper right, in an ornate cartouche, is engraved the title: CHOROGRAPHIA TUSCIAE. Below the cartouche, it reads: Girolamo Bellarmato Senese Autore. At lower left, in the sea, is depicted the Scale of Mile 30 (30 miles = mm 82). At lower right, outside graduated margin, is engraved editorial imprint: Matteo Florimi formis. Orientation in the four sides in the center with the names of the cardinal points: Septentrio, Meridies, Oriens, Occidens, north is at the top. Graduation in the margins of 1' in 1', from 41° 30' to 43° 26' latitude and from 32° 34' to 36° 24' longitude.

In about 1600, Matteo Florimi published this map of Tuscany. In the inscription he lists Girolamo Bellarmato as the author, but we do not know for sure whether Florimi directly modeled Bellarmato's 1536 original or, more likely, one of many later derivations. This map by Florimi, as Almagià argues, may have been engraved by Arnoldo de Arnoldi who, after working for a long time with Giovanni Antonio Magini, moved to Siena to Florimi's workshop precisely in the period 1600-1602.

“Girolamo Bellarmato's (or Bellarmati's) CHOROGRAPHIA TUSCIAE represents the prototype of printed cartography of the region. Slightly trapezoidal in shape, it consists of four joined sheets. Although it lacks a graphic scale, from the value of degrees of latitude we can reconstruct the value of the reduction, which is about 1:325,000. In the long dedication to Valerio Orsini, general of the Medici army, the author specifies that the map is useful for his profession therefore presenting it as a tool for military, political and administrative use. This cartographic product is based on data derived from systematic direct observation, measurements and surveys made by the author on the territory. Attention is given to all geographical aspects; for population centers, the size of the depiction is related to the size of the population. The hydrography is very well taken care of, and the orography is well highlighted, which is drawn with cones, larger in size for the most important reliefs. This valuable and innovative work was taken as a model for many years to follow and had numerous derivations. As Biasutti (1908) notes, Gastaldi also used Bellarmato's survey to compose his map of the peninsula (1561). The work also formed the basis for the maps of the region that the Flemish Abraham Ortelius (1570) and Gerard Mercator (1587) included in their respective atlases. Only one example of the map is known today, preserved in the State Archives in Florence" (cf Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo, p. 1961).

Etching and engraving, printed on contemporary laid virgin paper with unreadable watermark, with margins, in excellent condition.

Rare work, surveyed for only 12 institutional examples according Bifolco-Ronca (see Cartografia e Topografia Italiana del XVI secolo,  p. 1983).

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. 998; Elisa Boffa, Un tipografo calabrese a Siena: Matteo Florimi, in “Accademia dei Rozzi” (2013): II, n. 5; H.A.M. van der Heijden, Matteo Florimi (+1613) – Landkarten und Stadtplanverleger in Siena, in “Florilegium Cartographicum”, Lipsia (1993): n. 14; Almagià (1948): pp. 4-5; Almagià (1929): p. 20; Arrigoni-Bertarelli (1930): n. 1915; Bifolco-Ronca (2014): n. 90; Karrow (1993): n. 10/1.8; Lago (1994): p. 270, fig. 31; Lago (2002): p. 423, fig. 415; Pellegrini (2002): pp. 125-127, tav. IX; Ronca-Sorbini-Volpini (2011): pp. 146-147, tav. 54; Ronca-Volpini (2011): tav. 14; Tooley (1939): n. 577.