This lovely view of Naples was published in Niccolo Carletti's Topografia Universale della Città di Napoli. It presents a panoramic view of the city and surrounding countryside with individual buildings carefully laid out in fine detail with 46 locations keyed to an index below. At right center is the Castel Sant'Elmo (marked X in index), a star-shaped structure that was given its shape by a military architect, Pedro Luis Escriva from Valencia, from 1537-47. At bottom center is Castel Nuovo (XIX), a 13th century castle that is today one of the main architectural landmarks in Naples. To its left is the Castel dell'Ovo (XXV), which received its name from the Roman poet Virgil. Legend has it that Virgil, believed to be a great sorcerer, placed a magical egg in the foundation of the castle, and had the egg broken, the castle would have been destroyed and disastrous events would have occurred throughout Naples.

Today Naples is the capital of the Campania region and the third largest municipality in Italy. Its history began in the second millennium BC with Greek settlements and grew rapidly due to the influence of Syracuse, a Greek city-state. The Romans captured the city during the Samnite Wars (circa 300 BC) as the Roman Republic fought for unification and control of Italy. Although the walls surrounding the city repeatedly protected the city from the Carthaginian Empire, the city exchanged hands between the Ostrogoths, the Byzantine Empire, and the Normans in the first millennium AD. Control over the city continued to change over the centuries, and because of its size and importance, the city became a cultural center, particularly during the Renaissance. In the 16th century, Pedro Alvarez de Toledo, a Spanish Viceroy of Naples, initiated numerous social, economic and urban changes in Naples. His efforts to rebuild the city enabled Naples to become the second largest city in Europe by 1550, surpassed only by Paris.

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Condition: B+

Issued folding on watermarked paper with light scattered foxing. There is a binding trim at lower left and an associated small binding tear that just enters the image.