This year the Christmas exhibition of the Banca di Piacenza is dedicated to the masterpiece of 17th century cartography by Joan Blaeu.
Atlas Maior – A boundless universe. Cartography, travel and art
When: from 14 December 2024 to 12 January 2025
Where: PalabancaEventi, via Mazzini 14
The event offers the opportunity to explore the world of historical cartography through a route divided into four thematic sections, where one can admire detailed maps, paintings and scientific instruments of the period.
Visiting Route
The exhibition runs through several rooms, each of which offers a unique experience. In the Corrado Sforza Fogliani Room are ten volumes that invite visitors to explore faraway places and discover the cultures and political dynamics of an era. The Carnovali Room, on the other hand, recounts the ‘Abissi senza fine’ (Endless abysses), where two canvases from the Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza, Mare in burrasca con navi alla deriva (Sea in a storm with drifting ships) by Francesco Monti known as Brescianino and Mare in burrasca con naufragio (Sea in a storm with shipwreck) by Pieter Mulier known as Tempesta, narrate the dangerous adventures of navigators.
Alongside these works, a rich collection of scientific instruments can be admired, including an armilla and a telescope from the Opera Pia Alberoni in Piacenza, bearing witness to the intertwining of celestial and maritime exploration. In the Raineri Room, the theme is ‘Between Brush and Compass’: here images from Jan Vermeer’s paintings, depicting bourgeois interiors adorned with globes and maps, dialogue with the cartographic plates of the Atlas Maior in an evocative synchronised video installation. Finally, the Douglas Scotti Room presents ‘Farnese Mundi’, where the exhibition culminates with a map of the Farnese duchy, created by Blaeu and included in the VIII volume dedicated entirely to Italy. This map offers a valuable snapshot of the territory at a crucial historical moment, highlighting the link between the city and the great travellers of the time, such as Alessandro Farnese. The room also hosts exotic objects and taxidermied animals from the collections of the Natural History Museum in Piacenza, which underline man’s eternal curiosity to explore and understand the world, reviving the astonishment and wonder that travellers felt at the sight of new and extraordinary creatures.
