Beschreibung:

NAPLES -- 16th Century. Francesco MARCOALDI (fl.1592). Manuscript (probably autograph) signed, an account of the Kingdom of Naples dedicated to Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara, Ferrara, 25 March 1592, written in brown ink in an elegant informal humanistic hand, 79 pages, 208 x 150mm , two blind-stamped paper seals on last page, 8 blank leaves (occasional light spotting, slight worming in 6 leaves, touching seals and a few letters without loss of legibility); original limp vellum, title ('Relazione del Regno di Napoli') inscribed in ink on spine (minor tears, slightly marked, loss from tear in lower cover measuring approximately 90 x 90mm ). A delightful and eloquent description, perhaps by an ambassador, extolling the riches and charms of the kingdom of Naples - 'un Paradiso Terrestre' -- its situation and climate, natural advantages, landscape, phenomena and products, and the city of Naples and its inhabitants (the population of Naples is estimated at 200,000). Other subjects include arts and letters, the administration of justice, taxes levied by the King of Spain (Philip I), its garrisons, fleet and, in the concluding pages, the fortification of the Neapolitan coast against invasion by the Turks. Naples 'e citta veramente Regia, annoverata per tale tra le principali d'Europa, per l'antichita, et bellezza sua, et per la nobilita, che in essa vive essendovi trenta Principi, cinquanta quattro Conti, trenta Marchesi, et ventiquattro Duchi, et se non tutti gran parte vi habitano, et tengono proprii Palazzi havendo alcuni di esse d'entrata cinqua[n]ta, et centomila scuti l'anno se bene per il piu e impegnata per le gran spese che fan[n]o... [Naples is a truly royal city, regarded as such amongst the chief [cities] of Europe, for its antiquity and beauty, and for its nobility, for there are living there thirty princes, fifty-four counts, thirty marquesses and twenty-four dukes, and the majority, if not all, live there and have their own palaces, some of them having incomes of fifty and one hundred thousand scudi a year, although for most it is pledged for the great expenses which they have...]'. The author concludes that Naples is one of the most noble states in the Italy of his day, and perhaps in all Europe. Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara (1559-1597), to whom the manuscript is offered, a lover of finery and magnificence, made his court at Ferrara a centre of music and literature. On the death of his first wife (Lucrezia de' Medici) he married Beatrice, sister of the Emperor Maximilian II, and in 1566 was persuaded to join the Emperor in the war against the Turks.