Models of the Mediterranean, Camocio’s Isolario, and Early Modern Showings and Tellings in light of Lepanto

Abstract

This essay proposes three models of Mediterranean space and action that emerge out of early modern narratives and visuals (particularly maps). These overlapping models, for the long sixteenth century, are: 1) itinerary; 2) empire; and 3) predator, all of which appear under the broader frame of geographic-commercial space that is either conflicted or pacific. I employ a preliminary narrative, The Deeds of Commander Pietro Mocenigo, by Coriolano Cippico, a galley commander in the Ottoman-Venetian conflict of 1470-1474; then, the isolario of Giovanni Camocio, as it appeared in the aftermath of the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Camocio’s maps focus attention on that battle and on imperial conflict. But his vision of the Mediterranean is that of a range of familiar, maritime spaces dotted with fortresses and harbors, sometimes enmeshed in conflict and more often not.