Note 655 — Chapter I · JOURNEYS OF THE ITALIANS.

In the sixteenth century, Italy continued to be the home of geographical literature, at a time when the discoverers themselves belonged almost exclusively to the countries on the shores of the Atlantic. Native geography produced in the middle of the century the great and remarkable work of Leandro Alberti, Descrizione di tutta l’Italia, 1582. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the maps in Italy were in advance of those of other countries. See Wieser: Der Portulan des Infanten Philipp II. von Spanien in Sitzungsberichte der Wien. Acad. Phil. Hist. Kl. Bd. 82 (1876), pp. 541 sqq. For the different Italian maps and voyages of discovery, see the excellent work of Oscar Peschel: Abhandl. zur Erd-und Völkerkunde (Leipzig, 1878). Comp. also, inter alia: Berchet, Il planisfero di Giovanni Leandro del’anno 1452 fa-simil nella grandezza del’ original Nota illustrativa, 16 S. 4^o. Venezia, 1879. Comp. Voigt, ii. 516; and G. B. de Rossi, Piante iconogrofiche di Roma anteriori al secolo XVI. Rome, 1879. For Petrarch’s attempt to draw out a map of Italy, comp. Flavio Biondo: Italia illustrata (ed. Basil.), p. 352 sqq.; also Petr. Epist. var. LXI. ed. Fracass. iii. 476. A remarkable attempt at a map of Europe, Asia and Africa is to be found on the obverse of a medal of Charles IV. of Anjou, executed by Francesco da Laurana in 1462.