A splendid thematic map that represents an early example of statistical infographics applied to cartography. Dated 1905 and presented in 1906, the work combines the rigor of scientific and economic data with the aesthetic heights of the graphic art of the time.
At the top of the sheet stands the inscription:
“LA SOCIETÀ ANONIMA DI ASSICURAZIONI A PREMIO FISSO CONTRO LA GRANDINE CON SEDE IN MILANO — ALLA ESPOSIZIONE INTERNAZIONALE DI MILANO 1906” (THE LIMITED INSURANCE COMPANY FOR FIXED-PREMIUM HAIL INSURANCE, HEADQUARTERED IN MILAN — AT THE 1906 MILAN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION).
This marks the official presentation of the Limited Insurance Company (which would later become Generali), specializing in coverage for hail damage to agricultural crops.
The 1906 International Exposition (dedicated to Transportation and Social Welfare) was held in Milan to celebrate the opening of the Simplon Tunnel. It was a landmark event that marked Italy’s definitive entry among modern, industrialized nations, and Art Nouveau was its official language. The major companies of the era competed to showcase their solidity and modernity.
During the 1906 Exposition, the Insurance Company had its own booth in the “Social Welfare Section” (the section dedicated to insurance, mutual aid, and labor protection). In this section, large-scale painted or printed wall posters (the “tavole”) were on display. The caption at the bottom tells us that this sheet is a reduced-scale version printed for inclusion in an official publication.
The Chorographic Map of Italy
In the center of the chart is a map of Italy divided into provinces, colored using a scale ranging from light beige to deep black, as indicated by a legend clearly visible in the upper right corner. The variable represented is:
“Relative intensity of insurance coverage for each province in relation to the area of arable land”
This means that the map does not show the absolute value of insured capital in each province, but rather a relative index—that is, the ratio of insured value to arable farmland area (expressed in km²). In modern terms, we would call this agricultural insurance density. This approach is statistically sophisticated: a large province like Puglia might have a high insured capital in absolute terms, but when compared to its vast arable land area, the value per km² is modest. Conversely, provinces in Northern Italy (Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont) appear in very dark colors, indicating extremely high insurance penetration per unit of area. The legend lists the values in lire per km², with thresholds ranging from less than 50 to over 6,000, differentiated by seven progressive shades. The provinces of the Po Valley, the heart of Italian intensive agriculture, stand out as particularly dark.
The map is deeply rooted in the Art Nouveau style (known in Italy as Stile Liberty), which dominated advertising graphics, architecture, and editorial illustration in the early 20th century.
The chart is framed by decorative ribbon-like cartouches containing the names of the provinces associated with the respective graphs. At the bottom and in the corners, the geometric structure of the data is softened by realistic illustrations of sheaves of wheat, ears of grain, and tobacco leaves. This fusion of the rigidity of statistical data and the elegance of natural curved lines is the quintessence of the Liberty style. Along the left, right, and bottom margins, the map features a dense series of pie charts, each dedicated to a specific Italian province, visually showing the proportion of insured capital relative to payouts, allowing for an immediate visual comparison of insured wealth across different regions of the country.
Today, we use the term “Data Viz” (Data Visualization) on a daily basis, assuming it is an invention of the digital age or of business intelligence software. In reality, this map from 1905 shows that the visualization of complex data has deep roots.
For its time, this was a document at the cutting edge of communication technology. Bringing together in a single space a geographic map, a chromatic intensity scale (choropleth map), dozens of individual pie charts, and regional histograms meant enabling the reader—whether a shareholder, a politician, or a client—to grasp the economic trends of an entire nation at a single glance. It is a masterful use of graphic design in the service of quantitative information.
