Elio Manzi

Jeannette Villepreux Power (1794-1871) has been an important scientist in the 19th century, primarily a marine biologist. Having lived for a long time in Messina, when the city of the Straits played an important cultural and economic role in the Sicily of the time and throughout the Kingdom, she matured a detailed and, in some regards, original knowledge of the region and translated it into a Guide to Sicily published in Naples at Cirelli’s in 1842. The Guide was accompanied by one of the most valuable chorographic maps, a lithograph work by the great cartographer Benedetto Marzolla, namely, the best that could be displayed at that time. There are also three plans or topographies of archaeological sites, Syracuse, Girgenti/Agrigento and Selinunte, the chalcographic work of Gabriello De Sanctis, a well-known cartographer and publishing operator in the Nineteenth Century. Power’s Guide and Marzolla’s map of Sicily show considerable geographical interest for two reasons: the author’s t...

Durante la bella escursione in Tunisia tra settembre e ottobre 2017, per i 150 anni di attivita della Societa Geografica Italiana, ho accennato qualche volta a paralleli paesaggistici fra il Paese maghrebino e la Sicilia. E la Sicilia che con maggiore evidenza presenta paesaggi e retaggi simili alla Tunisia e quella occidentale, soprattutto il Trapanese.

EnglishOn the Tyrrhenian coast between Monte di Cuma and the Garigliano River, new settlements have developed rapidly in the last decade. Human settlement of this stretch of coast has occurred only so recently because previously hindered by incomplete land reclamation and lack of communications. After the removal of these difficulties, especially with the opening of the , the coast has been gradually covered with buildings for the most part with the function good hotel facilities and modern services. Castel Volturno has not be able, on account of its unfortunate topographical position, to develop a beach with facilities; Mondragone has spread out along the beach is a new and vaste residential zone, frequented by people from near-by districts. The centre which best utilizes the characteristics of the landscape is Bahia Domizia, endowed with big hotels and villas built among the pines, as well as efficient commercial services. Baia Domizia has been especially constructed according to ...

Principali argomenti trattati: uso del suolo, paesaggio e cartografia regionale.La settecentesca carta Schmettau: avanguardia o condanna? Sicilia luogo "centrale" della vicenda cartografica del Mezzogiorno.Garibaldi e le carte della Sicilia a 150 anni dall'Unit\ue0. Cartografia e paesaggi. Da Agatino Daidone ai Reali Offici Topografici attraverso W.H. Smyth, e le levate e carte topografiche napoletane e la carta topografica di Sicilia del 1862-68.Messina, il terremoto e gli studi di Mario Baratta editi dalla Societ\ue0 Geografica Italiana.Insediamento e campagne , masserie monumentali, centri rurali compatti. Paesaggi di Sicilia come sintesi del Mediterraneo

The Authors examine some elements of the work of the great cartographer Benedetto Marzolla (1801-1858) who, together with Carlo Afàn de Rivera, represents the best among the intellectuals and technicians that the Kingdom of Two Sicilies yielded before the Italian unification. This contrasts with the commonplace outlined be the Savoyard-Risorgimental propaganda which describes Naples and the Kingdom as a country inhabited by incapables, depraved and lazy persons. The Authors resume the theme of the Map of Nourishing Products, an excellent work not only because it describes the terrestrial and marine nourishing productions, but also for the connection with many agrarian landscapes and relative trades. Moreover, the Authors present the Map of Excise Duty (1830) another work of Marzolla together with Valentino, never known or considered by cartography scholars. This map does not seem to be cited inside the catalogues or inventories about Marzolla’s production, compiled by Valerio or by ...