A Picture of Italy: being a Guide to the Antiquities and Curiosities ... to which are prefixed, Directions to Travellers

1815

de Beer Eb 1815 C

London: Sherwood, Neeley & Jones

From Piedmont in the north, to Puglia in the southeast, Sardinia in the west, and Sicily in the southwest, the area covered by the Italian republic (established 1946) is some 301,338 kilometres. This includes enclaves such as the Vatican City, and Campione d’Italia in Switzerland. In 2012, the population of this European country was 60 million, with Rome registering 2,641,930. Renowned for its architecture, literature, fashion, and cuisine, Italy is now sub-divided into 20 regions, where most speak Italian (a Florentine variety of Tuscan). Although Catholicism is no longer the state religion, a high proportion of Italians identify with the Church. This colourful map from Henry Coxe’s A Picture of Italy (1815) depicts the familiar ‘boot and ball’ of Italy in 1815, the year Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated. The map does not reflect the changes ‘restored’ by the Congress of Vienna (June 1815); Genoa is still separated and not annexed to Sardinia; and Venice is still outside the so-called ‘new kingdom’ of the Austrian Empire.