Italian Geographer Massimo Quaini’s Critical Contribution to the Study of Maps

Abstract

This article proposes to present to an international public of map scholars the work of the Italian geographer Massimo Quaini, active between the 1970s and 2017. Known outside Italy as a radical geographer mainly for his work Geography and Marxism (1982), Quaini has dedicated numerous studies to the history and criticism of the map. The interest in his scientific production concerns firstly his theoretical contribution to map theory, having subjected to an intense criticism the traditional notion of the cartographic device. Theoretical considerations and the study of documents – analysed in every aspect (patrons, authors, languages, etc.) – have intertwined in a scientific work based on two types of sources: the cartography of the Liguria region and the Napoleonic topographers’ activity, studies in which he anticipated the remarkable work of Anne Godwleska.