Looking for a coastal profile: Elba Island as a model for historical iconographic interpretation

Summary: In the following pages we propose a discussion around questions connected with the selection of historical iconographic materials. We deal with a topic which is propaedeutic to the georeferencing work or to any application of digital technologies to cartographic heritage objects. It has also strong implication with the use of historical iconographic materials in order to establish the condition of territory in modern period (XVIXIX cent.). That's why we will look at the historical iconographic production which reproduces Elba Island between 14th and 19th century. Placed in the Tuscan archipelago, Elba is the third largest island of Italy with a surface of 223 km2. We may consider Elba not only a significant case of study but also a representative model of an area which attracted a large and composite iconographic production. Its insular character encourages the design of a territory in the fullness of its physical (and maritime) borders: a condition which we hardly find in the iconography of continental coastal strips. The history of this island testifies of the political fragmentation of a territorial unit. Elba was ruled by the Appiani House of Piombino but in 1557 borders were fixed to delineate the Portoferraio enclave of Tuscan Grand Duchy while Porto Longone (nowadays Porto Azzurro) moved to Spain at the end of the same century. The political events together with the centrality of Elba in the Mediterranean routes on the one hand produced a large amount of iconographic materials and on the other hand allow a differentiation of figures as a result of the drawings of different navies and States. Terrestrial maps, nautical charts, views, as well as architectural drawings, have all contributed to the delineation of the Tuscan coastline during the past centuries. These materials have also contributed to our understanding of the natural and anthropic phenomena that have profoundly changed some portions of the low sandy coasts over time, and to our understanding of the dynamics and even, in some cases, the cause of such changes. Of course maps, like any other historical source, may be reliable or misleading, may focus on particular aspects of a subject at the expense of others; it is therefore up to the historical investigator to assess the consistency and validity of cartographic representations. Historical investigation becomes key when you consider drawings that, from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, only slowly come to form an accurate representation of the profile of Elba Island. During this long period, Tuscany’s largest island—like the rest of its archipelago—assumes contours that vary depending on the authors of the map—whose decisions frequently border on arbitrariness. Nevertheless, a careful reading of these maps which may appear, by today’s standards, incorrect or containing omissions, brings out certain elements, sometimes unique and often of great interest. A step forward in the acknowledgement of the reliability of iconographies can be done by identifying the motives and the period in which the map was drawn, its author and any school of refer