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Scarce birds-eye view of the fortified city of Emilia Reggio, then a provincial capital in the Duchy of Modena. Three main gates into the town are located, along with an excellent detailed treatment of the interior of the City and surrounding region.
Emilia Reggio traces its early history to the construction of tehe Via Aemilia from Piacenza to Rimini in 187 BC. Apollinaris of Ravenna brought Christianity to the City in the 1st Century AD. The City was already in substantial decay at the time of the Barbarian invasions and changed hands on a number occasions before its conquest by Charlemagne in the 8th Century. New walls were constructed in the 9th Century, after a Magayar attack killed Bishop Azzo II. In the early 11 Century, the City became part of Tuscany.
Following a period of great struggles, the City came to be controlled by the Este family. In 1326, the City was annexed into the Papal States, where it soon fell under the control of Luigi Gonzaga. For a period, it was controlled by both the Gonzaga family and the Milanese Visconti, until it was sold to the Visconti for 5,000 Ducats. In 1405, the town again came under the rule of the Este family, until it was given to Pope Julius II in 1513. It was later returned to the Este family after the death of Pope Hadrian VI in 1523, where it remained almost continuously until 1796. Finally, after a period of Napoleonic struggles with the Este family, the City finally became part of the Reunified Italy in 1860.
This map appeared in Albrizzi's Storia di tutti i popoli del Mondo, the Italian edition of Thomas Salmon's popular History of the World.
