Vesconte and Giovanni Maggiolo, Nautical Chart

Member, 1525 (July 8), Genoa, 64.7 x 96.3 cm.

Brilliant and colorful nautical chart, full of illustrations of animals, plants, banners and multicolored buildings; the precious map is the work of two exponents of the Maiollos, a Genoese family of talented cartographers. It was kept rolled up in a cylindrical cardboard container, to which it was nailed through holes that are still visible today. It represents the entire Mediterranean basin, part of the western coasts of Africa and Europe, and various islands, even outside the Mare Nostrum. The localities are indicated differently in red or black, in Italian with strong dialectal influences or in Latin, in Gothic or capital letters with a larger module, based on a rigid hierarchy of importance.