ra Mauro’s map of the world – a masterpiece of western cartography, composed around 1450 – has until now never been the subject of a modern study, despite its immense renown. The map has been reproduced and cited in hundreds of books, but the most recent full study was in 1806: Placido Zurla’s Il mappamondo di Fra Mauro. The present book aims at an analysis and an in-depth study of this important document, offering the reader an understanding within its contemporary cultural framework.

The project is the result of collaboration between historians and scholars belonging to two Venetian institutions, the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana – where the map is still preserved – and the Centro Interdisciplinare di Rilievo, Cartografia ed Elaborazione (CIRCE) of Venice's Iuav University. The work is in two parts, a volume of studies and a CD-ROM. The latter contains not only a high-resolution image of the map, but also software for cross consultation of text and image, in order to allow 'navigation' between the map and its inscriptions

Piero Falchetta is curator of maps at the Marciana National Library in Venice.