0339 Il sottofondo roccioso della città: osservazione della natura e caratteri insediativi nella veduta di Napoli di Jan van Stinemolen

Abstract

In comparison with previous depictions as well as with coeval and later maps of Naples, Jan van Stinemolen's view (1582) adopts an unusual point of observation by surveying the city from the hillside to the gulf. This allows one to perceive Naples as embedded in its wider environment, ranging from Vesuvius to the Phlegraean Fields. In this context, nature plays a fundamental role, both outside and inside the city walls. As for the latter, the fortifications differ from what we know of the circuit built by Viceroy Pedro de Toledo, both in their form and the connection between the walled perimeter and the north-western urban areas. In particular, this issue and the question of topographical truth has attracted much attention in the scholarly discussion devoted to the drawing thus far. This paper aims to consider such peculiarities from a different perspective. Its point of departure is the rendering of the monumental gate facing the viewer with the oddly fashioned design that Stinemolen gave to a site where other historical sources record only a minor opening known as pertuso; an actual gate, the Porta Medina, was built only some sixty years later. Such seemingly inconsistent features actually match the imagery of old, more specifically ancient towns, and may thus be intentional. Furthermore, the relevance and visual variation of the bedrock, as attested by this view as well as by further drawings by Jan van Stinemolen, provide elements for examining the author's emphasis on natural phenomena peculiar to the Neapolitan region, paralleling scholarly narratives that emerged at this time within the context of a growing naturalist interest in volcanic phenomena.