Historic Map : Black Map of Northern Italy (Tuscany, Piedmont, Venice), 1844, Vintage Wall Art

This is a fine example of Adam and Charles Black's 1844 map of northern Italy. The map covers the island of Corsica and Northern Italy, including the regions of Tuscany, Modena, Parma, the Sardinian States, Austrian Lombardy and the State of the Church. It also includes the northern extension of the Kingdom of Naples. An inset map in the lower left quadrant depicts the environs of Rome. Throughout, the map identifies various cities, towns, rivers, mountain passes and an assortment of additional topographical details with relief shown by hachure.

As this map was drawn, revolutionary sentiments favoring the unification of Italy were gaining popularity under Giuseppe Garibaldi, paving the way to Italian solidarity. This period thus witnessed the birth of the 'La Giovine Italia' Italian solidarity movement. In 1830, a series of insurrections throughout Italy lead to the adoption of the Tricolore and nearly established a united Italian state. Unfortunately, in 1831, Pope Gregory in xVI invited the Austrian army to help crush the insurrections, postponing the push for Italian solidarity until the Revolutions of 1848.

This map was engraved by S. Hall for issue as plate no. in xin xin xL in the 1844 edition of Black's General Atlas.