La perla nera del Mediterraneo. Iconografia, fortificazioni, paesaggio

Abstract

Ustica (from the latin ustum= burned, volcanic wreckage) is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of about 87 hectares and a perimeter of about 12 km. It has volcanic origins and represents only a small part of a complex volcanic apparatus involving also the underwater mountain “Anchise”. Numerous studies have dealt with the island and its development; among these, particularly beautiful, is the volume Ustica, work of the Archduke from Toscana Salvatore di Asburgo, edited in Prague by the Typography Von Heinr Mercy Son in 1898, containing sixty drawings. The graphic corpus is systematic. It is not only the landscape or architectural description but consists also of drawings related to the tools used for the agriculture and the activity for the stock in the fields. The volume is composed by two different parts. The former includes general information, while the other one deals with the places of the island described with masterful graphic expertise. The volume ends with the description of southern and northern coasts conceived as a landscape that “takes the breath away”.