RICERCA ITALIANA     

Manuscript for the image of the Italian city in the modern age

Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II"

Abstract

In modern times, from the creation of the print, the circulation of cities' image has been kept overall with prints with urban character. These instruments had partially let in second place other heritages that, in quantity and quality, are often of great interest: manuscript documents, representing completely or partially the cities.
This production has been used by specialistic studies in territorial reality; in a different way great interest must be done to the production of manuscript maps that represents Italy and that are in all Europe.
The first taget is to keep clear al the phases of production, diffusion, and analisys of these iconographical documents. Who create and with scope manuscript maps in the centuries? Which utility the have in the reconstruction of urban aggregates and for the knowledge of urban structures, in town and landscape planning?
To these questions answer the main target of this research: organize a clear map of the manuscript production related to italian cities. To reach this target we organized a project on two levels that keep in one 'unit' all the single research unit. The first step is to classificate the manuscript production divided in different local units and in theorical way in three types of documents iconographic:

- Administrative maps (cadaster and city government)
- Ecclesiastical maps
- Militar maps

At the same time every local unit will analyze the >>>

Principal Investigator

Cesare De Seta Università degli Studi di NAPOLI "Federico II"

Research Objectives

The research program aims to the study of urban manuscript cartography that has like subject italian cities, made in Italy and Europe, not only kept in archives and libraries in Italian but also foreign ones.
Urban mapping is a necessary support to conservation and urban planning, not an object of contemplation, but instrument of work to keep in great consideration. On the plan of building conservation, infact, this new work method gives to professionals an heritage of images that documents the change: cities, territories and landscapes that could be used by who is deputy to preserve and urban renowal. Iconographical documents are of three types: administrative maps, ecclesiastical maps militar maps.
The documents kept in collections of public archives and libraries is related to interests that joined politic power and economic interests to single italian states and cities and often kept secret. The necessary maps for the study are that one born for different targets that today are used such as an instrument of urban knowledge. For ecclesiastical documents, they are very rich in southern Italy, where are monastery, abbeys that dived the Kingdom. A research in the archives demonstrates how it is possible a reconstruction of the stratification of urban centres. Different materials that in their etherogeneity could give a picture of great thoroughness for urban analisys.

First Results

This research unit will study manuscript funds of military character and cadastral maps existing in the European Libraries, Archives and cultural institutions. Between military drawings, in particular, will be selected those that emphasized urban image more than the same drawing of the walls and the defensive works. Really is only through the graphic restitution forced by military rule that urban images could had release from an impressionism of manner to direct towards objectives according to the current practice. Perhaps only the military drawings realised for defence, together with cadastral images can have today parameters of realism that make us capable of understand urban structure of the past: in sight of an historical research but also of a qualitative recomposition of built-up area that in time had loose a lot of their original characters.
The cadastral maps offers also an objectiveness of representation, that for their particular characteristic, illustrated objectively urban and extra-urban territory. That cartographic document born in searching for compare the taxations of every immovable properties, today become a necessary instrument of city knowledge. To the same, also the territorial plans enclosed to the public of the large ecclesial orders, that were in the responsible centuries of large territorial transformations.
This Scientific Research Project originated by the increasing importance iconographic text gained in these latest years. The >>>

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

This Scientific Research Project originated by the increasing importance iconographic text gained in these latest years. Iconographic text is intended as a document of site morphology, urban structure and landscape architecture. A series of book was published ("Le città nella storia d'Italia" ,Laterza",dir. by C.De Seta) with the purpose of investigating the relationship between towns developments and their iconography.
Landscape and territory are a subject of great topical interest, within the Ministry of Culture a specific Office of Researches has been created, and at the same time a real subject is today consolidating its position within Italian universities.
In the Nineties the subject has been sufficiently explored and the materials collected sufficiently plentiful that the first synthesis were allowed to be outlined.The focus of the researches in progress shifted to methodologies, languages,techniques,instruments and the word/image relationship.Some important exhibitions(Firenze e la sua immagine.Cinque secoli di vedutismo,Florence 1994;A volo d'uccello.Jacopo de'Barbari e le rappresentazioni di città nell'Europa del Rinascimento,Venice 1999;Le peintre et l'arpenteur.Images de Bruxelles et de l'ancient duché de Brabant,Bruxelles 2000;Segni e sogni della terra,Milan 2001; Imago urbis Romae,Rome 2005;Nolli Vasi Piranesi,Rome 2005,and conferences ("The representation of lansdcape in the 17th >>>