Dan's map of Italy
My vision of Italy (Tuscany) from above
Casole Ombelico del Mondo
I drew this map of Italy in 1990 with my village, Casole d'Elsa, at the center - the ombelico del mondo, the navel of the world.
It's deliberately subjective: places I know well loom large and detailed, while others fade into stylized hills or disappear entirely. The Tuscan landscape around Casole gets the most attention, with everything else getting its important based on how far away from Casole it is.
This is geography as I experience it - shaped by memory, affection, and forty years of living here. The handwritten place names, the playful treatment of scale, the way the coastlines and mountains are suggested rather than precisely mapped - it's all about personal connection to place rather than cartographic accuracy. It's how Italy feels to me, with home at the very heart of everything.
Italy
Available Prints
Framed A3 - £135
Framed A3 prints are in a natural wood A2 frame
Framed A4 portrait - £80
An A4 print will be in an A3 natural wood framed and mounted
A3 Portrait - £59
A4 Portrait - £25
Prints are made with archival inks on one of two papers - either 350g Hahnemuhle German Etching paper, or 290g. Hahnemuhle Hemp, a beautifully heavy paper with rich colours. Made with 60% hemp fiber, this is an eco-friendly paper. Hemp is a highly sustainable resource, historically used for papermaking. Hahnemuhle use spring water for milling, and the production of hemp paper does not require bleaching or chloride, making the process less impactful. Postage and packing will be calculated on checkout.
Guide to Print sizes
| ISO | Size in Inches | Size in cms |
|---|---|---|
| A4 | 11.69 × 8.27 | 29.7 × 21 |
| A3 | 16.54 × 11.69 | 42 × 29.7 |
| A2 | 23.39 × 16.54 | 59.4 × 42 |
| na | 10 × 10 | 25.4 × 25.4 |
| na | 7.87 × 7.87 | 20 × 20 |
Framing and mounts
An A4 print is best framed in an A3 frame - these images work best with a decent amount of white space surrounding them.
