Buxton Books is excited to be the bookseller for The Dante Alighieri Society as they welcome Andrea Di Robilant for a discussion of his latest title, This Earthly Globe. For more information and to register for the event, please click here.
We are thrilled to have acclaimed Italian writer Andrea Di Robilant in Charleston to present his new book This Earthly Globe.
From the best-selling author of A Venetian Affair comes the captivating story of an Italian Renaissance editor whose passion for geography reshaped Europe’s understanding of the world. Di Robilant brings to life the palace intrigues, editorial wheedling, delicate alliances and vibrant curiosity that resulted in this coup by the editor Giovambattista Ramusio.
In the autumn of 1550, Venice saw the publication of a groundbreaking volume titled Navigationi et Viaggi (Journeys and Navigations)—a collection filled with new geographical knowledge, accompanied by striking woodcut maps of Africa, India, and Indonesia. Behind this extraordinary work was the meticulous hand of Giovambattista Ramusio, though he initially remained anonymous. Over the next few years, Ramusio released two more volumes, providing the most accurate and comprehensive accounts of Asia and the “New World” available at the time. Together, these three books represented an unprecedented flood of information—what Andrea di Robilant aptly calls the “biggest Wikileak of the Renaissance.”
In This Earthly Globe, di Robilant delves into the complex world of palace politics, delicate negotiations, and scholarly persistence that fueled Ramusio’s project. He draws vivid portraits of the colorful voices woven throughout the collection, from Marco Polo’s famous journeys (carefully fact-checked by Ramusio himself) to detailed cultural accounts from figures like al-Hasan ibn Mohammad al-Wazzan (later known as Leo Africanus). Beyond the stories of adventure and discovery, di Robilant also sheds light on the darker legacies of colonialism and conquest that shadowed this era of exploration.
The result is a rich, far-reaching tribute to a visionary editor whose work laid the foundations of modern geography—and opened European minds to the wider world.
Please click here to register for the event.
About This Earthly Globe:
From the author of the best-selling A Venetian Affair (“A narrative of novelistic resonance . . . Astonishing” —The Washington Post), the story of an Italian Renaissance book editor who introduced European minds to the wider world through his passion for geography
In the autumn of 1550, a thick volume containing a wealth of geographical information new to Europeans, with startling woodcut maps of Africa, India and Indonesia, was published in Venice under the title Navigationi et Viaggi (Journeys and Navigations). The editor of this remarkable collection of travelogues, journals and classified government reports remained anonymous. Two additional volumes delivered the most accurate information available at the time on Asia and the “New World.” The three volumes together constituted an unparalleled release of geographical data into the public domain. It was, Andrea di Robilant writes, the biggest Wikileak of the Renaissance.
In This Earthly Globe, di Robilant brings to life not just the palace intrigues, editorial wheedling, delicate alliances and vibrant curiosity that resulted in this coup, but also its mastermind, editor Giovambattista Ramusio. Learned and self-effacing, he gathered a vast array of both popular and closely guarded narratives, from the journals of Marco Polo (he fact-checked them!) to detailed reports on Northern African cultures from the Muslim scholar and diplomat al-Hasan ibn Mohammad al-Wazzan (later known as Leo Africanus). Diverse voices spill out from these chapters as di Robilant recounts how Ramusio pursued the sources, and how he understood both the darker episodes of “exploration” involving colonial violence and the voyage stories that included accounts of people from African and Asian lands, who had a great deal to share about their cultures. The result is a far-flung and delightful homage to one of the founding fathers of modern geography.
About Andrea di Robilant:
Andrea di Robilant was born in Italy and educated in the United States at Columbia University, where he specialized in international affairs. After a career in journalism, he now teaches creative writing at the American University in Rome. He is the author of A Venetian Affair; Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon; Irresistible North: From Venice To Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers; Chasing the Rose and Autumn in Venice: Ernest Hemingway and His Last Muse.