2 
fig1 The perspective view of Venice of Jacopo de’ Barbari 
The idea that the perspective construction of the view 
might have been realised beginning with a plan and using 
elevations is fascinating for those involved in cartography 
because it presupposes the existence of a survey of the 
city or at least, given the particular character of the urban 
structure of Venice, of a series of reference points 
probably positioned in bell towers and surveyed using 
triangulation or a polar coordinates. 
The studies have been addressed in part to evaluating the 
shifting of the view with respect to a “correct” geometry 
and on the other, to construct the instruments for 
understanding and fruition of the work for a general public 
which may not be specialised. The analysis and the 
spreading of the cartography, apparently quite far from 
each other, have an analytical and geometric apparatus in 
common: they are based on the same geometric and 
mathematical considerations and use the same 
instruments, the same calculation equipment, the same 
methods. These, although derived from the survey and 
modern analytical cartography disciplines, have assumed 
their own particular connotations and peculiarities, leading 
to a definition of a methodology for the quantitative 
analysis of the historic cartography. 
fig2 The photoplane of Venice utilized as the reference cartography