Italy - Pavia; Francesco Scoto (1548/ 1622), Mattio Cadorin (detto Bolzetta) - veduta prospettica a volo d'uccello - 1651-1660

Title of the work: Itinerary, or a new description of the principal travels in Italy. It was the most famous and widespread guide for travelers of the Grand Tour in Italy during the entire 17th and 18th centuries.

This edition dedicated to Abate Ruberto Papafava ("Dedicated to the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Sir Abbot Ruberto Papafava, Noble of Veneto"), corresponds to the Padua editions of the mid-17th century, in particular those published in the years 1654, 1659 or 1675.

Publisher and Place: Printed in Padua at Mattio Cadorini (or for the Cadorino)

Engraving in black and white, excellent inking and copperplate printing on laid paper, minimal margins, margin opposite the binding with wear, browning, oxidation and yellowing; all as shown in the photo. Good state of preservation, slight traces of foxing and browning. Printing fold and visible signs of binding. Shipment insured via Bartolini/DPD courier. To take advantage of the insurance coverage, any damage to the neck (package) must be contested and reported to the courier at the time of delivery. Otherwise, it will not be possible to activate the insurance reimbursement procedure.

The “Itinerario, overo nuova descrittione de' viaggi principali d'Italia” is a famous travel guide of the 17th century, originally written in Latin by Francesco Scoto (Schott Franz) and subsequently translated into Italian, expanded and published in various editions between 1629 and 1670 (e.g., at Francesco Bolzetta or Gio. Pietro Brigonci). The book provides a detailed description of journeys in Italy, enriched with city plans, bird’s-eye views, and maps, describing the most notable sights.

By the name Mattio Cadorin (also known as Matteo Cadorin or under the pseudonym Bolzetta) is mainly referred to an important Italian publisher, typographer and bookseller of the 17th century.

Franz Schott (1548-1622) Italianized (Francesco Scoto)

Franz Schott, in Latin Franciscus Schottus, Italianized Francesco Scoto (Antwerp, 1548 – 1622), was a Flemish jurist and traveler. Brother of Andreas Schott, he was the author of a guide for pilgrims bound for Italy for the Jubilee of 1600: the Itinerarium nobiliorum Italiae regionum, urbium, oppidorum, et locorum. The work achieved enormous success and was translated into Italian, English, French and reprinted until the eighteenth century.

Little is known about the life of jurist Franz Schott, beyond the fact that he came from Antwerp and studied law. As mentioned, in 1600 Schott published the first edition of the Latin work with the title Itinerarii Italiae at Jeans Moretus of Antwerp, with the aim of providing readers, many of whom were pilgrims traveling to Italy and especially to Rome for the Holy Year, with a guide containing practical information for moving around easily.

In 1601, by the effort of the two Padua-based editors Francesco Bolzetta and Pietro Bertelli, the second Latin edition of Franz Schott’s Itinerario d’Italia was published in Italy, in Vicenza. The work was enriched with maps of some Italian cities and the text, by the editors’ wish, was expanded through the intervention of Geronimo Capugnano, a Dominican friar of Bologna. A later Latin edition was published by Pietro Bertelli in 1610 in Vicenza. In 1620 the same author Franz Schott, spurred by the immediate success his Itinerario had achieved, attempted publication of another Latin edition of the same, extending it to Germany. In 1625, after Schott’s death, his brother Andreas oversaw a new Latin edition of the Itinerario for a new Jubilee year, which was followed by the edition published in Amsterdam in 1655 by the great geographic publisher Jodocus Jansson. This last edition, erroneously attributed to Andreas Schott, included eighteen city maps of Italy, largely derived from Joannes Jansson’s atlas, Illustrium Italiane urbium tabulae, published in 1657, whose plates had, however, already appeared in 1626 in the Nova et accurata Italiane descriptio.

Particularly for the Italian editions, the first Italian edition of Schott’s Itinerario d’Italia was published in Venice in 1610 by the publisher Francesco Bolzetta. It was based on the 1601 Latin text but the title erroneously stated the attribution of the work to Andreas Schott. From this first Italian edition all subsequent Italian editions descended. Through Francesco Bolzetta appeared the Vicenza editions of 1615, 1622 and 1638 and the Padua editions of 1629, 1642 and 1649. In all these Italian editions the attribution of the work to Andreas Schott rather than to his brother Franz has been preserved. In Rome, the Itinerario of Schott was published for the first time in 1650 by the publisher Filippo De Rossi, on the basis of the 1649 text. From this edition the attribution of the guide to its rightful author, Franz Schott, was restored. University of Genoa