L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 34 L'Italo-Americano T here is a portrait o f P a o l o d a l P o z z o T o s c a - n e l l i s t a n d i n g next to philoso- pher Marsilio Ficino, one of the foremost minds of the Italian Renaissance. In it, Toscanelli appears as a mys- terious man. He wears a tur- b a n e m b r o i d e r e d a l l a moresca -- in the Moorish- style -- in a 15th-century Flo- rence committed to fighting against the Turks. But who w a s P a o l o d a l P o z z o Toscanelli? Born in Florence in 1397 and graduated from Padua medical school in 1424, he w a s a l e a r n e d p h y s i c i a n , astronomer, mathematician, and cartographer interested i n f i n d i n g a n e w w a y t o "steal" the spice routes from Arab traders. Like many other mem- bers of the Florentine bour- geoisie, he came from a fam- i l y o f m e r c h a n t s w h o procured for consumers a wide range of spices includ- ing pepper, ginger, cinna- mon, clove, and saffron. And a s e v e r y o n e k n o w s s p i c e t r a d e f r o m A s i a w a s t h e most profitable at the time. "With the Ottoman con- q u e s t o f t h e e a s t e r n M e d i t e r r a n e a n c o u n t r i e s and especially of Byzantium / Constantinople in 1453, the supply of spices became a problem," explains Profes- sor Leonardo Rombai, former professor of histori- cal geography at the Univer- sity of Florence. C o n s t a n t i n o p l e a t t h e c o n v e r g e n c e o f t h e S p i c e Routes that skirted ports from southern China to the Red Sea began levying pro- hibitively expensive tariffs o n g o o d s t r a n s p o r t e d through the city. "The Chris- tian countries of Mediter- ranean Europe - and espe- cially the Italian city-states, including Florence - found themselves in a serious eco- n o m i c c r i s i s , " p r o f e s s o r Rombai explains. With Muslims controlling the lucrative trade, Euro- peans had to find new sea- w a y s t o A s i a . K i n g d o m s began sponsoring explorato- ry expeditions. "That is why Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli began to verify and measure t h e o c e a n r o u t e t o t h e Indies, a globe in his hands and astronomical calcula- tions in place functional to t h e e v a l u a t i o n o f l o n g i - tudes," Professor Rombai explains. In 15th-century Florence there was a great deal of geo- g r a p h i c a l r e s e a r c h . "Toscanelli had well received the geographical and carto- graphic work of Ptolemy brought to Florence in 1397 b y t h e B y z a n t i n e s c h o l a r Manuele Crisolora and had studied Marinus of Tyre, a G r e e k g e o g r a p h e r w h o founded mathematical geog- r a p h y a n d p r o v i d e d t h e underpinnings of Ptolemy's i n f l u e n t i a l G e o g r a p h y , " explains Rombai. "He had also revised the Ptolomy's Almagest as witnessed by humanist Ugolino Verino, a contemporary of Toscanelli." The Almagest is a 2nd- c e n t u r y G r e e k - l a n g u a g e mathematical treatise on the a p p a r e n t m o t i o n s o f t h e stars and planetary paths. It c a n o n i z e d a g e o c e n t r i c model of the universe that was accepted for more than 1,200 years from its origin in Hellenistic times to the early Renaissance until Coperni- cus. Professor Rombai says the scholar was also indebted to Paolo Dagomari, or Paolo dell'Abbaco, a famous Flo- r e n t i n e a s t r o n o m e r , astrologer, and mathemati- cian of the 14th century. Basing his calculations on Ptolemy's geographic infor- mation according to the size of the Greek ecumene, the k n o w n i n h a b i t e d w o r l d , T o s c a n e l l i d e v e l o p e d h i s ideas of sailing west to reach the east by covering a dis- tance of only 6,500 miles. He proposed a scheme to sail west as a shortcut to lands in the spice-producing regions i n t h e e a s t . T o h i m , t h e shortest route to the east was m o v i n g w e s t t o c r o s s t h e Atlantic Ocean. Toscanelli died aged 85 in 1 4 8 2 , t e n y e a r s b e f o r e Christopher Columbus discovered the New World while sailing under the flag of Spain. We don't know if the two ever met but for sure their lives were intercon- nected. Toscanelli inspired the I t a l i a n e x p l o r e r . Toscanelli's theories con- vinced Columbus in the for- mulation of his plan to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia. Few stories in history are more familiar t h a n t h a t o f t h e G e n o e s e navigator sailing west for the Indies and finding instead the New World. " T h e r e i s n o e v i d e n c e Toscanelli and Columbus ever met. Yet Columbus had the Toscanelli's map," says Professor Rombai, who is also co-author of a book on the long-lost Toscanelli's chart that accompanied his letter dated June 25, 1474 addressed to the humanist Fernao Martins of Lisbon, confessor Canon and agent o f t h e P o r t u g u e s e K i n g Alfonso V. Toscanelli urged the Iber- i a n p o w e r s P o r t u g a l a n d Spain to realize the transat- lantic project discussed in Florence and laid out for them the map and the scien- tific information required for its success. "Toscanelli and Martins met several times in Rome, Florence, and other Italian cities," says Rombai. M a r t i n s a n d P o r t u g u e s e envoys were also in Florence in 1459 to consult Toscanelli. "On that occasion, Toscanelli b o r r o w e d t h e n o w w e l l - k n o w n F r a n c e s c o C a s t e l - lani's 'almond' globe to dis- c u s s w i t h h i s g u e s t s t h e easiest way to get to the East Indies." Today the Castellani globe is kept in the National Central Library of Florence. P r o f e s s o r R o m b a i s a y s Columbus got a hold of the Toscanelli's map during his stay in Portugal and copied the 1474 letter to Martins when he moved to Portugal from Spain. "Columbus tran- scribed the letter on a white MARIELLA RADAELLI Una copia della mappa usata da Toscanelli (Photo: Wikicommons/Public Domain) Continued to page 36 LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Toscanelli, the geographer who inspired the voyages of Columbus

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