ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the way in which early modern representations of Naples increasingly linked the topography of the city to interpretations of its cultural identity. At the end of the fifteenth century, Naples, like other Italian cities, had to reassess its identity in a situation of, on the one hand, rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances and, on the other, increasing social mobility. In both Italian and non-Italian late fifteenth-century topographic publications, such as Giacomo Filippo Foresti's Supplementum Chronicharum and the Nuremberg Chronicle with images by Hartmann Schedel, Naples was still imagined in a fashion that is more stereotypical and symbolic than accurate or documentary. In Benedetto Di Falco's description of Naples, the city is presented as a collection of places that are remarkable because of the illustrious and ancient memories they contain. It is precisely this accumulation of heritage that gives lustre to the city as a whole because of its direct connection to antique culture.
