Messina.

A of the city of Messina on Sicily by Matteo Florimi (1540-1613). Below the view is a numbered key (1-167) with a key to locations.
Florimi was a print-and-book dealer and publisher from Calabria. He came to Siena c.1581. The first evidence of his independent activity is 1589. He published a large number of maps and views and mostly religious prints. He employed engravers as Agostino Carracci, Cornelis Galle, Pieter de Jode, Villamena, and Thomassin (among others).

The engraving is copied after a print first published by Franz Hogenberg in 1572 in his Civitatus. In a view, Messina is shown from the east looking down upon the crescent-shaped natural harbor and the city with its geometric plan. The image of Messina is dominated by the busy shipping in the harbor and the huge warehouses in the foreground. The city is well fortified and protected by citadels, in particular on its landward side. In the city stands the 12th-century cathedral of Maria Santissima Assunta (17), within the front of it the fountain of Orion (29) by Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli. The Strait of Messina remains treacherous for shipping today. According to Greek mythology, its narrow channel held two sea monsters both deadly to seafarers: Scylla, who dwelt in a rock on one side, and Charybdis with his gaping whirlpool mouth on the other side. Since a tectonic fault runs through the Strait, Messina has regularly experienced seismic activity. (Taschen)

A unique opportunity to acquire a fine example from a town view from the early Lafreri school!