Francesco Berlinghieri (1440–1501) was aFlorentine scholar andhumanist who lived during the fifteenth century. He promoted the value ofclassical Greek learning and was one of the first to print a text based onPtolemy'sGeography. Berlinghieri studied poetry under the tutelage ofCristoforo Landino.
Berlinghieri was born inFlorence into a family with over 200 years of involvement in Florentine politics. He served in a variety of governmental offices including as Prior of theSignoria and Conservator of Laws. In 1479 he was appointed Florentine ambassador at theGonzaga court inMantua¹. He later found employment inFlorence in the court ofLorenzo de' Medici and took part in thePlatonic Academy, founded byMarsilio Ficino. Berlinghieri provided financial support to Ficino during the latter's translation ofPlato's works into Latin.
In 1464 Berlinghieri started to work on a treatise based upon Ptolemy'sGeography. He updated its maps and included a commentary in verse form. It was printed in 1482 with copper engraved maps by the German printerNicolaus Laurentii, also known as Niccolò Tedesco, under the titleSepte Giornate della Geographia di Francesco Berlinghieri meaning "The Seven Days of Geography". It was one of the first printed works based on Ptolemy and also the first to be printed in vernacularItalian. Berlinghieri was also among the first to supplement the traditional maps contained in theGeographia with updated maps of France, Italy, Spain, British Isles and the Holy Land, based on the work ofNicolaus Germanus.² He painstakingly identified Ptolemy's place names with contemporary toponyms and, aside from Ptolemy, also sourced information from classical geographersStrabo andDiodorus of Sicily.[1]
Berlinghieri's work was originally to be dedicated to theOttoman SultanMehmed II. When the sultan died in 1481, Berlinghieri dedicated it toFederico da Montefeltro, the Duke ofUrbino. Unfortunately, the duke died before the final edition was printed. Additionally, manuscript copies of the book were dedicated to Lorenzo de' Medici andFederigo da Montefeltro and individual copies of the printed edition were dedicated to the Ottoman Sultan, at that timeBayezid II and his half-brother Cem Sultan.³
¹ Assunto Mori, “Un geografo del Rinascimento (Francesco di Niccolò Berlinghieri),”Archivio storico italiano, vol. 13, 1894, pp. 341–348 andAngela Codazzi, “Francesco Berlinghieri,” entry inDizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 9 (Rome, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1967), pp. 121–124.
² R.A. Skelton, "Geographia: Florence, 1482" (Amsterdam, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1964), introduction to the facsimile edition. On Berlinghieri's text see Roberto Almagià, “Osservazioni sull’opera geografica di Francesco Berlinghieri,”Archivio della R. deputazione romana di storia patria, vol. 68, 1945, pp. 211–255.
³ Skelton,Geographia: Florence, 1482, p. xii. See also Angela Dillon Bussi, “Aspetti della miniature ai tempi di Lorenzo il Magnifico,” in Anna Lenzuni ed.,All’ombra del lauro. Documenti librari della cultura in età laurenziana, exh. cat. Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Florence, Silvana Editoriale, 1992), pp. 149-160.
