Italy - Genoa; Francesco Scoto (1548/ 1622) - mappa storica della città di Genova, - 1621-1650

Engraving in black and white on copper, excellent in-etching and copperplate print on laid paper with partial watermark, minimal margins, the margin opposite the binding showing wear, stain in the center, all as in the photo. Good state of conservation, slight traces of foxing and browning. Editorial crease and visible binding marks. insured shipping via Bartolini/DPD courier. To benefit from the insurance coverage, any damage to the neck area 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 seventeenth-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., with 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 to see.

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 authored a guide for pilgrims headed to Italy for the Jubilee of 1600: the Itinerarium nobiliorum Italiae regionum, urbium, oppidorum, et locorum. The work enjoyed enormous success and was translated into Italian, English, and French and reprinted until the eighteenth century.

Little is known about the life of the jurist Franz Schott, except that he hailed from Antwerp and studied jurisprudence. As noted, in 1600 Schott published the first Latin edition of the work under the title Itinerarii Italiae at Jeans Moretus in Antwerp, with the aim of providing readers—most of whom were pilgrims traveling to Italy, and especially to Rome for the Holy Year—with a practical guide for navigating easily.

In 1601, at the hands of the two Padua-based editors Francesco Bolzetta and Pietro Bertelli, the second Latin edition of the 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 editors’ decree, was expanded by the contribution 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, 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 in conjunction with a new Jubilar year, followed by the edition published in Amsterdam in 1655 by the renowned geographic publisher Jodocus Jansson. This latter 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 plans, however, had 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 incorrectly credited the work to Andreas Schott. From this first Italian edition all subsequent Italian editions descended. Through Francesco Bolzetta, Vicentine editions appeared in 1615, 1622 and 1638, and Padovan editions in 1629, 1642 and 1649. In all these Italian editions the authorhip is consistently attributed to Andreas Schott, rather than to his brother Franz. In Rome, the Itinerario by Schott was first published in 1650 by the publisher 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