Carta Strategica della Lombardia alla scala di 1 a 200.000

The “Carta Strategica della Lombardia alla scala di 1 a 200.000” printed in 1855 by the Doyen brothers’ lithographic workshop, is a refined example of 19th-century cartography, conceived at a crucial moment in the political and military history of northern Italy. Mounted on detachable canvas, in accordance with a practice designed to facilitate its use in the field and repeated consultation, the map depicts a territory that at the time was still part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, a state entity of the Habsburg Empire that was destined to dissolve a few years later with the wars of independence.From a cartographic point of view, the work is striking for the density and clarity of its information. The scale of 1:200,000 allows for a detailed representation of the hydrographic network, the relief, and the road network, organized according to a clearly legible functional hierarchy: the railways, symbol of modernity and strategic control of the territory, the major roads of the first order, and the carriage roads are carefully distinguished by graphic and chromatic signs. The contemporary watercolor coloring, sober but effective, not only has an aesthetic function but also helps to make boundaries, waterways, and main communication routes immediately perceptible. Particularly significant is the indication of the posts and some of the locations where the clashes of 1848 took place, which gives the map a clearly strategic and historical value, transforming it into a tool for interpreting recent war events as well as a geographical aid.
The scales shown in the lower right corner, expressed both in Piedmont miles (45 per degree) and Italian miles (60 per degree), reflect the plurality of measurement systems in use on the peninsula before unification and testify to the authors’ attention to a wide and diverse audience, composed of military personnel, administrators, and technicians. At the bottom left is the inscription “Presso Gio. Batt. Maggi, Via di Po Torino,” while on the right is “Torino. Lit. F.lli Doyen,” emphasizing the collaboration between publisher and lithographers and the central role of Turin as a publishing and cultural hub of the period.