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

Title of the work: Itinerario, overo nova descrittione de' viaggi principali d'Italia. It was the most famous and widespread guide for travelers on the Grand Tour in Italy throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.

This edition dedicated to Abate Ruberto Papafava ("Dedicato all'Illustriss. et Reverendiss. Sig. Abbate Ruberto Papafava Nobile Veneto"), corresponds to the Padua editions from the mid-17th century, in particular those published in 1654, 1659 or 1675.

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

Engraving in black and white, excellent inking and copperplate printing on hand-laid paper with watermark, minimal margins, margin opposite the binding showing wear, browning, oxidations and yellowing; all as in the photo. Good state of preservation, slight traces of foxing and browning. Editorial fold and visible signs of binding. Insured shipping via Bartolini/DPD courier. To benefit from the insurance coverage, any damage to the neck must be contested and reported to the courier at the time of delivery. Otherwise, it will not be possible to initiate the insurance reimbursement procedure.

The “Itinerario, overo nuova descrittione de' viaggi principali d'Italia” is a renowned 17th-century travel guide, 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 travels in Italy, enriched with city plans, bird's-eye views and maps, describing the most notable sights.

With the name Mattio Cadorin (also known as Matteo Cadorin or under the pseudonym of Bolzetta) there is mainly reference to an important Italian editor, printer 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 jurist and Flemish 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 was enormously successful and was translated into Italian, English, French and reprinted until the eighteenth century.

Very little is known about the life of jurist Franz Schott, except that he came from Antwerp and studied law. As noted, 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 going to Italy and particularly to Rome for the Holy Year, with a guide containing practical information to move about easily.

In 1601, by the effort of the two Padua editors Francesco Bolzetta and Pietro Bertelli, the second Latin edition of Itinerario d’Italia by Franz Schott 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 with the intervention of Geronimo Capugnano, a Dominican friar from Bologna. A subsequent Latin edition was published by Pietro Bertelli in 1610 in Vicenza. In 1620 the same author Franz Schott, driven by the immediate success that his Itinerario had obtained, attempted to publish a further Latin edition of the same, extending it to Germany. In 1625, after the death of Franz Schott, on the occasion of another Jubilee year his brother Andreas supervised a new Latin edition of the Itinerario, which was followed by the edition published in Amsterdam in 1655 by the great geographical publisher Jodocus Jansson. This last edition, erroneously attributed to Andreas Schott, included eighteen city maps of Italian cities, largely derived from Joannes Jansson’s atlas, Illustrium Italiane urbium tabulae, published in 1657, whose plans had however already appeared in 1626 in 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 editor Francesco Bolzetta. It was based on the Latin text of 1601 but the title erroneously attributed the work to Andreas Schott. From this first Italian edition all subsequent Italian editions descended. Thanks to Francesco Bolzetta the Vicentine editions appeared in 1615, 1622 and 1638, and the Padua editions of 1629, 1642 and 1649. In all these Italian editions the error of attributing the paternity of the work to Andreas Schott, rather than to his brother Franz, has been maintained. In Rome the Itinerario by Schott was published for the first time in 1650 by the editor Filippo De Rossi, based on the 1649 text. From this edition the attribution of the guide to its rightful author, Franz Schott, was restored. University of Genoa