Pursuing the Portuguese path of Cosimo III. A diachronic overview of the territory since the insight of Lorenzo Magalotti’s journal and Pier Maria Baldi’s vedutas

Abstract

Having as backdrop the European journey by Cosimo III (1668-1669), this communication aims to recognize a section of the Portuguese route covered by the Tuscan prince rehearsing a diachronic vision of the territory. Thus, and having as reference the space/time line drawn from the contents of Lorenzo Magalotti's Relazione Ufficiale and Pier Maria Baldi's veduta drawings, we seek to recognize the longue durée expressed in the material and immaterial features of the places.

As part of an ongoing research, concerning the recognition of the Portuguese landscape (in its temporal, physical and cultural depth), the communication crosses written and iconographic records from the 17th to the 21st centuries, through a methodology of graphic speculation that recognizes, materializes and exhibits the decomposition of urban morphology and built artefacts along with the assessment of the landscape in its physical and temporal strata. Thus, and starting from a privileged insight over the Portuguese cultural and spatial framework in 1669, provided by Magalotti and Baldi, it is possible to establish reading keys for the identification of physical and human variables and permanencies, recalling the idea of the territory as palimpsest, exhibiting values and vocations of the visited places.

This intersection of gazes, the Italian and Portuguese 17th century impression and the contemporary scrutiny of the places visited by Cosimo III, amplifies the importance of such journey as an event and documental source for a broad reading of the European cultural diversity and cohesion.