Plan of Milan: Gates, Distances and the City's True Centre
A radial survey of the gates with measured distances and columns of summed totals
This is a fuller circular plan of Milan: the ring of city gates is set around an arc, each labelled with its name and a measured distance, while a note at the top instructs the surveyor to 'set down the true centre of Milan.' Gates named include Monforte, Porta Renza, Porta Nova, Porta Cumana, Barco, Porta Giovia, Porta Vercellina, Porta Sant'Ambrogio, Porta Ticinese, the Tower of the Emperor and Porta Ludovica, with the Naviglio and 'water' also marked. Down the right side the distances are added into columns totalling 9147 and 8822, and a faint townscape of the city is drawn below.
On this page
Locating the true centre of Milan
A note at the top of the sheet directs that the true centre of Milan be established, from which the radial survey is measured outward. The gates and their distances are then arranged around the resulting circle. The drawing is in effect a bird's-eye plan of the city defined by its gates.
The ring of gates with their distances
Running clockwise the leaf names Monforte 350, Porta Renza, Porta Nova 475, Strada Nova, the Naviglio, Porta Cumana 500, Barco 550, Porta Giovia 585, Porta Vercellina 740, Porta Sant'Ambrogio, Porta Ticinese 490, the Tower of the Emperor and Porta Ludovica 530, together with 'water.' Each entry pairs a location with a measured distance. Together they define the circuit of the city walls.
Columns of distances summed to totals
Down the right margin the measured distances are copied into vertical columns and added, yielding running totals of 9147 and 8822. The arithmetic checks the perimeter figures gathered around the plan. It shows the survey being reduced to a numerical account of the walls.
Faint panorama of the city below
Beneath the circular plan a low, detailed skyline of Milan with its towers and buildings is lightly drawn across the lower part of the sheet. It supplies a pictorial view to accompany the measured plan above. The sketch is faint and not transcribed in the bundle.