A historical topographical map of Brindisi has been found which until now had been completely overlooked in all local publications, catalogs and collections which in recent decades have meticulously listed and reviewed all the historical cartography of the city of Brindisi and its port.
A passionate scholar and collector of historical cartography from Brindisi, Vito Ruggiero, discovered it on the web in the catalog of a gallery specialized in the sale of engravings by ancient masters and rare cartography, and subsequently studied it in great depth up to the point of dedicate a book to her.
The work is a woodcut from the first half of the 16th century, on contemporary laid paper measuring 40×30 cm, and is part of the Venetian printed cartographic production and diffusion, which has survived to this day in a perfect state of preservation.
The discovery is extraordinary for the city of Brindisi, because the print in question is the representation of the oldest and rarest city known to date, which has survived to this day in a single example.
A precious document, very ancient and very rare, which few cities can boast and which, ironically, Brindisi is unaware of possessing as it is not cited in any local publication.
The extraordinary document tells us that, in the year 1538, the army of Admiral Andrea Doria anchored in the port of Brindisi after the events of the Battle of Preveza. A precise testimony of an event that actually happened at the time of the naval battles between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire.
On 28 September 1538 a Christian fleet of the Holy League (the military coalition wanted by Pope Paul III to counter the Ottoman naval invasion in the Mediterranean, and signed in February of that year by Spain, the Republic of Genoa, the Republic of Venice and the Knights of Malta) had finally managed to block Barbarossa in the Corinth Canal near Preveza. The battle of Preveza would probably have had a different outcome, definitively resolving the problems created by Khayr al-Din Barbarossa, if Doria, having withdrawn from the fight, had not left the field open to the Ottoman corsair. The disengagement carried out by the admiral was justified by the difficulties in manoeuvring, due to the lack of wind, of the Christian sailing ships and in particular of the powerful flagship Galeone di Venezia, opposed to the agile and fast enemy vessel.
The title in the right cartouche shows the name Brandicias the city was called at that time by the Venetians.
The scroll on the left reads: EL. VER. SITE. FROM. BRAND US. IM APULIA. PRINTED IN VENETIA. FOR. FRANCIS. LIBRA[RIA] FROM THERE. HOPE. AMDXXXVIII.
The panel is signed by Francesco Tommaso di Salò in 1538, a printer active in Venice who almost always worked with unidentified partners and about whom there is little information. It was signed with the imprint In Venetia: for Francesco de Tomaso di Salo and companions, in Frezzaria, under the sign of Faith. His name appears on reprints of the works of Matteo Pagano, whose typography he probably acquired.
The work was found in 1987 by the Hungarian scholar Tibor Szathmáry at the Arezzo antiques market in a small collection of woodcuts from the 16th century, all very rare and never known before. The panel was part of a small collection of woodcuts signed by Matteo Pagano, Giovanni Andrea Vavassore and Francesco Tommaso di Salò.
Immediately after its discovery, however, the panel ended up abroad, and the collection was subsequently dispersed at various auctions. The one in Brindisi was part of the famous private collection of the well-known German politician Fritz Hellwig and only recently has it reappeared, first in an auction house catalog and then in that of a specialized gallery. It is currently part of a private collection again.
The bibliography on which Vito Ruggiero was able to refer for his studies is extremely limited. In Italy the table is described in the monumental cataloging work Italian cartography and topography of the 16th centurypublished by Edizioni Antiquarius in 2018, edited by Stefano Bifolco and Fabrizio Ronca, two of the best-known scholars and leading international experts on sixteenth-century Italian historical cartography.
The work is known only through this copy which, for the first time, Szathmáry publishes in the first issue of Cartographica Hungarica of 1992. Subsequently, in 1994, Rodney Shirley mentions it in the article “Rare Italian Woodcut Maps of the Sixteenth Century” in the specialist magazine IMCoS – Journal of the International Map Collectors Society, n°58.
With its details, the panel gives us an unknown image of Brindisi in the sixteenth century that Vito Ruggiero wanted to study in depth, having also had the opportunity to personally view the unique example.
The study lasted more than a year and covered the events connected to its discovery, the historical context with particular reference to the battle of Preveza and the subsequent exploits of Andrea Doria, the limited existing bibliography and obviously the local topographical aspects.
The elements and details collected were so interesting and numerous that Vito Ruggiero decided to collect them in a self-published book in recent days, written without profit for the sole purpose of making it known in the best possible way to the people of Brindisi, hoping to stimulate historians to study it further.
The author’s hope is that this historic and very important document of the city has all the relevance and attention it deserves from local history scholars, cultural associations and above all local institutions.
With the hope that one day he can return “home” to show off in Brindisi in front of its inhabitants.
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Link to the book: Brandici by Vito Ruggiero | Paper (youcanprint.it)
