Reviews Description Table of Contents Additional Information Reviews Lately, there is an almost seismic propagation of interest and good hard work—in Switzerland, Italy, and the United States—in Biondo and in this work. Professor Catherine Castner is right at the epicenter of it, and accelerates it: her redaction of the 1559 Froben Latin text of Italia illustrata is trustworthy and (at last) makes that text accessible; her English translation is crisp and readable and accurate; her Introduction and Commentary synthesize recent (and earlier) scholarship and penetrate cleanly through and disentangle helpfully the multiple historical layers of Biondo’s operations, while contributing much herself that is fresh and useful. — Jeffrey A. White, Professor of Classical Languages at St. Bonaventure University Go to Top Description Volume 1: Northern Italy In 1447 Alfonso of Aragon, King of Naples, engaged the humanist antiquarian Biondo Flavio to compose in Latin a catalogue of famous men of Italy. This commission became Italia Illustrata, the first historical topography. In it, Biondo superimposed upon Italy’s classical heritage and her troubled medieval history a panorama of Italy in his own time. Although Italia Illustrata and three other major Latin treatises made Biondo’s reputation as the father of modern historiography and archaeology, these works have been accessible only in early modern printed editions to specialists with entrée to rare book rooms. Catherine Castner has now made this important treatise available in modern text with English translation and commentary. The Latin text is the best-known early printed edition, that of Froben (Basel, 1559). A clear, flowing English translation provides modern Italian equivalents for the majority of Biondo’s Latin toponyms. The commentary summarizes scholarship on the location and history of towns and cities of Italy and the building activities of their Renaissance lords. The plates include maps of cities and regions of Italy from medieval and early modern times. Italia Illustrata is an essential resource for any serious scholar of Renaissance humanism. Historians of medieval Italy, and of art and architecture, classicists, archaeologists, and epigraphers will value this work for its treasure of evidence: for example, Biondo’s eye-witness reports on the status of the building projects of the Malatesta; the Renaissance reception of Livy, Pliny, and Virgil (and the transmission of forged or misinterpreted inscriptions); and correlations of ancient sites with fifteenth-century settlements. This book will appeal to interests ranging from the current popular appetite for travel in Italy, to the growing scholarly attention to early modern geographical and travel literature; in short, to any reader with more than superficial interest in the urban centers and landscapes of Italy. Go to Top Table of Contents Acknowledgments Credits for illustrations Introduction Preface Regio I, Liguria Regio VI, Romandiola RegioVII, Lombardia Regio VIII, Venetia Regio IX, Marchia Tarvisina Regio X, Forumiulium Regio XI, Histria Commentary Bibliography General Index Index of Places Plates Cover: Francesco Berlinghieri, “Novella Italia” (1480) Frontispiece: The regions of Italy according to Pliny; the regions of Italy according to Biondo Flavio’s Italia illustrata Dedication of “Romandiola” to Malatesta Novello The province of Romagna in 1699 Detail of previous map F. Marsili, sketch of the Adriatic coast off Cattolica Map of Ravenna from second half of fifteenth century Bookkeeping records showing “Misser Biondo’s” sale of Materials for Bastia dello Zaniolo Map of Paulinus Minorita showing “rotta di Ficarolo.” Ms. Vat. Lat. 1960, fol. 267r Go to Top Additional Information Catherine J. Castner University of South Carolina: Classic Program International Medieval Congress 2006; Leeds, England Go to Top