This map, drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in 1502, depicts the Italian city of Imola.

In 1502, Leonardo was appointed official architect to Cesare Borgia, which gave him the authority to hire staff and carry out detailed surveys of cities in order to improve their defensive systems.

The importance of this map, beyond its high level of detail compared to other urban maps of the time, lies in the perspective used. It is the first map to use an overhead view, simply representing the bases of buildings and structures, rather than detailing their façades, as other maps of the time did, such as this one. map of Aranda de Duero.

Another important aspect of this map is the slight imperfections in the streets, with subtle indentations and protrusions in the different buildings that denote the detail Leonardo sought to capture in this map. Despite this, it has been confirmed that some buildings had already been demolished in 1502, so it may be that Leonardo based part of the information on the map not only on his team's measurements, but also on previous documents.

Sources

• A map of Imola 1502