Agrigento in the oldest cartographic representations (12th-15th century)
Maria Luisa Zegretti is a scholar who combines academic rigor, a passion for research and a keen sensitivity for reading ancient cartographic sources. A professor of literature, she has built a solid path of archaeological studies that led her to specialize in Medieval Archaeology at the University "La Sapienza" of Rome and in Christian Archaeology at the Pontifical Institute of Rome , concluding her training with a PhD in Postclassical Archaeology, also at "La Sapienza". She has worked at the Archaeological Museum of Madrid and has participated in excavations and study campaigns on churches, necropolises and monasteries of the Roman era . In recent years, however, her attention has increasingly turned towards medieval cartographic representations of Sicily, with particular attention to the city of Agrigento, the subject of investigations also on the level of archaeoastronomy. The essay we present here is a brilliant example of his method: a clever combination of philological reading of the sources, iconographic interpretation and historical contextualization.
The essay by Maria Luisa Zegretti, which we present here to the readers of our magazine, is in line with the most up-to-date research on historical Mediterranean cartography, addressing a fascinating and little-explored theme: the evolution of the image of Sicily (and in particular of Agrigento) in medieval representations.
Starting from the famous map of Al-Idris I, drawn up at the court of Roger II in Palermo in the first half of the 12th century, Sicily emerges as a region at the crossroads of cultures and powers. Al-Idrisi describes it through a language that mixes geographical data and cultural narration, in a work that merges Arab-Islamic knowledge with the Norman interest in political geography. In this first representation, Agrigento (Ghirghent) is already perceived as a lively, rich city, with a port capable of accommodating large ships and inhabited by a varied population. This representation is, as the author explains, both topographical and symbolic: the city is depicted with a golden emblem with six segments, a metaphor for its wealth and centrality in the Mediterranean basin.
With the passing of the centuries and the diffusion of mappae mundi , the vision of Sicily takes on new connotations, often more symbolic than geographical. The maps of Ebstorf (1284) and Hereford (1290), drawn up in a Germanic and British environment, translate the Island in the shape of a heart or triangle, evoking not so much physical precision as the cultural and theological essence of its space. In these representations, Agrigento appears through turreted or domed images, distinct from the more articulated ones reserved for larger centres such as Palermo or Lilibeo. However, Zegretti notes iconographic details that could refer to the cathedral or the castellum of the Norman era, suggesting that even apparently simple images can conceal specific references to actually existing buildings.
The heart of the essay is precisely this: the ability to read medieval maps not as simple geographical documents, but as “visual palimpsests” that condense historical, symbolic and cultural information. An example of this is the Pisan map , the first true European nautical map (late 13th century), in which the city appears as “ Girgenti ”, a name that will also appear in subsequent maps, including that of Pietro Vesconte (1311), Angelino Dulcert (1339) and in the famous representations of Abraham Cresques (1375) and the cartographer Soleri (1380). Each document not only provides an evolving toponymy ( Girgenti, Giget, Gergent, Girget), but also a progressive enrichment of iconographic details: crenellated walls, ports, Aragonese coats of arms. The presence of the coat of arms of Frederick III of Aragon , for example, testifies to the political weight that Agrigento acquired after the Sicilian Vespers, fully inserting itself into the Catalan-Aragonese Mediterranean flows.
In closing, Zegretti analyzes the maps of the fifteenth century such as those of Berlinghieri or Martellus, in which Agrigento is represented on the seashore between Sciacca and Licata, with iconographies that once again evoke the medieval urban structure. The study, although in the form of an "introductory excursus", as the author defines it, opens a precious perspective to understand not only how Agrigento has been perceived over the centuries, but also how Sicily has assumed a central visual and political role in the Mediterranean theater.
Medieval cartography , far from being a simple illustrative exercise, is confirmed in this essay as a key to investigate profound historical processes: changes in power, trade routes, migrations and, above all, the ability of Sicilian cities to survive and transform themselves into the memory of the world. Agrigento, in particular, appears as a city-symbol of this Mediterranean resilience, between East and West, between image and reality.
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