37 • Cartography in the Kingdom of Naples during the Early Modern Period Vladimiro Valerio In writing the history of cartography in the kingdom of constant—metahistoric—features of all of Neapolitan Naples during the early modern period, one encounters a cartography. However, an exclusively political-economic number of “absences”: there are maps that circulated for reading does not offer an adequate explanation of this phe- only a very short time or among a very restricted group of nomenon; clearly, factors relating to the collective imagi- people, maps that have been either forgotten or lost with- nation and psyche also come into play here.3 out a trace, and maps that were never completed or never While the state of vassalage and political dependence printed. And whether this absence is an accidental or in- was a decisive cause of the absences in Neapolitan cartog- herent characteristic of the works concerned, it is sympto- raphy, one should not ignore the effect of other factors that matic of the cultural and political vassalage that southern were more strictly connected with geographical and eco- Italy suffered from the early years of the sixteenth century nomic considerations. As an example of such factors, one right through to 1734 (that crucial year in Neapolitan his- might take the pattern of settlement in southern Italy, tory that saw the birth of an independent government). The period covered here runs from the founding of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies by Alfonso V of the House of Abbreviations used in this chapter include: ASN for Archivio di Stato, Aragon in 1443 through the periods of viceroys under Naples, and Lexikon for Ingrid Kretschmer, Johannes Dörflinger, and Franz Wawrik, eds., Lexikon zur Geschichte der Kartographie, 2 vols. Spain from 1504 to the middle of the seventeenth century, (Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 1986). coinciding almost exactly with the anti-Spanish riots of 1. J. B. Harley, “Silences and Secrecy: The Hidden Agenda of Car- 1648 that had such severe effects on the city’s economic tography in Early Modern Europe,” Imago Mundi 40 (1988): 57–76, and social life. esp. 58. See Harley’s stimulating discussion focused on the development Along with “silences” and “secrets,” the previously of “an adequate theory concerning the political silences in maps” (pp. 57–58); the article is complete with ample references. mentioned absences provide fruitful terrain for an investi- 2. Harley, “Silences and Secrecy,” 58. On the themes of cartography gation into the ideological aspects of Neapolitan cartog- and power, see the interesting discussions in Massimo Quaini’s various raphy. Harley observed: “That which is absent from maps works: “L’Italia dei cartografi,” in Storia d’Italia, 6 vols. (Turin: Ei- is as much a proper field for enquiry as that which is pres- naudi, 1972–76), 6:3– 49; “I viaggi della carta,” in Cosmografi e car- ent,” 1 and this comment can cover not just a single map tografi nell’età moderna (Genoa: Istituto di Storia Moderna e Contem- poranea, 1980), 7–22, republished with some additions under the title but the entire output of a particular society or period. The “Fortuna della cartografia,” Erodoto 5–6 (1982): 132– 46; “Il ‘luogo occurrence of such absences in even more recent periods cartografico’: Spazio disciplinare o labirinto storiografico?” in Atti della of history reveals that the extent of cartographic knowl- giornata di studio su: “Problemi e metodi nello studio della rappresen- edge (in both a quantitative and a qualitative sense) is not tazione ambientale,” Parma, 22 marzo 1986, ed. Pietro Zanlari (Parma: dependent simply on technological development. Expec- Istituto di Architettura e Disegno, Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Parma, 1987), 49–55. tations and pressures of various kinds come into play here. 3. On the theme of the imagination as an area of historical research, And while all of these have a political element (as Harley see Evelyne Patlagean, “Storia dell’immaginario,” in La nuova storia, put it, they embody a concern “to maintain and legitimise 3d ed., ed. Jacques Le Goff, trans. Tukery Capra (Milan: Mondadori, state power”),2 they might also, in a more general sense, 1987), 289–317. The interesting ideas in Leonardo Olschki’s Storia let- be seen as depending on the nature of institutions, on pre- teraria delle scoperte geografiche: Studi e ricerche (Florence: Olschki, 1937) relating to the cartographic imagination are open to further de- vailing economic and social conditions, and even on the velopment. Of particular relevance are his distinctions between empiri- mental cartography that each society develops for itself. cal and ideological geography (pp. 143– 44) and the section dealing To move beyond these vague initial considerations and with the persistence of myths (pp. 155–63), both to be found in the give a definite example, we can affirm that for over four chapter titled “Realtà, convenzione e immaginazione nelle relazioni di centuries Neapolitan cartography put an unusual degree viaggio del Medio-evo.” Studies of the cartographic imagination are also found in the section headed “Cartografia dell’immaginario” in Arte of emphasis on the matter of borders and the represen- e scienza per il disegno del mondo, exhibition catalog (Milan: Electa, tation of the region of Campania Felix. In effect, these 1983), 237–56, which contains a few essays that appeared in Cartes et sectoral aspects of cartography would end up becoming figures de la terre, exhibition catalog (Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 940 Cartography in the Kingdom of Naples during the Early Modern Period 941 where towns were dotted across the territory but without ‘modern,’” 7 the kingdom of Naples was by the middle of the links and interconnections that are essential to har- the fifteenth century enjoying circumstances that were fa- monious development.4 The result of this pattern of set- vorable to the development of modern cartography and tlement was a series of closed economies, with under- modern techniques for territorial and geographical sur- developed trade and commerce in the hinterland and a veying. Unfortunately, for many reasons, this process did coastal trade that relied on vessels of small tonnage. To- not culminate in the formation of a state and the self- gether with this fragmentary socioeconomic situation, one identification of the collectivity as a nation; foremost finds very uneven development in cartographic knowl- edge; coverage was patchy, and the cartographers of the 1980), with some interesting additions by Jacques Le Goff, Marina period revealed a particular focus on or predilection for Paglieri, and others. The bibliography on the geography of fantastic and certain themes or geographical areas. imaginary—a rather different topic, it should be pointed out, to that of the cartographic imagination—has recently increased with the appear- I have already mentioned the focus on the question of ance of various noteworthy works. As well as those already cited, see borders and on the depiction of the Naples region itself; Omar Calabrese, Renato Giovannoli, and Isabella Pezzini, eds., Hic sunt further examples of characteristic features of Neapolitan leones: Geografia fantastica e viaggi straordinari (Milan: Electa, 1983), cartography are the strategic interest shown in certain which covers the various themes and approaches to them, and “Imagi- fortresses and the economic-administrative focus on cer- nary Map” and “Symbolic Map,” in Cartographical Innovations: An International Handbook of Mapping Terms to 1900, tratturi ed. Helen Wallis tain axes—for instance, the region’s main (sheep and Arthur Howard Robinson (Tring, Eng.: Map Collector Publications tracks) or the regi lagni (man-made canals constructed to in association with the International Cartographic Association, 1987), drain water from reclaimed land). A study of the collec- 37– 40 and 68–69. tions of maps and illustrations of southern Italy that can 4. See Philip Jones, “Economia e società nell’Italia medievale: La be found in Madrid, Naples, Paris, Simancas, and Vienna leggenda della borghesia,” in Storia d’Italia: Annali, vol. 1, Dal feu- dalesimo al capitalismo, ed. Ruggiero Romano and Corrado Vivanti shows how the images differ according to location and (Turin: Einaudi, 1978), 185–372, esp. 201ff. 5 period. The themes covered are almost all among those 5. On the cartographic collections in these institutes, see M. A. Mar- mentioned earlier, but there is no temporal development tullo Arpago et al., eds., Fonti cartografiche nell’Archivio di Stato di that reveals a continuity of study rather than occasional Napoli (Naples: Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali, Ufficio attention. Each work seems to be related to some specific Centrali per i Beni Archivistici, Archivio di Stato di Napoli, 1987), which gives the first results of a study of the collections in the state event—and seems to exist in a cartographic vacuum. archives in Naples; Archivo General de Simancas, Mapas, planos y di- The scarcity of cartographic images or other illustra- bujos, 2 vols., by Concepción Alvarez Terán and María del Carmen tions becomes even more striking when we look at printed Fernández Gómez (Valladolid: El Archivo; [Madrid]: Ministerio de Cul- works, which naturally had a greater influence on subse- tura, Dirección General de Bellas Artes, Archivos y Bibliotecas, 1980 – quent output and common geographical knowledge than 90), vol. 1, and Ilario Principe et al., eds., Il progetto del disegno: Città e territori italiani nell’Archivio General