R. Melis · 1991
This is a review of Volumes 3 and 4 of the Thematic Atlas of Italy, published by the Touring Club Italiano in collaboration with the National Research Council of Italy, with Roberto Melis as geographical and cartographical director. The first two volumes were reviewed in 1992, and the publication of these final volumes completes the project. The review notes that the overall cartographic standard is exceptionally high, with fine line work, effective use of colour, and superior printing quality. However, the submarine topography depicted on maps 21 (Geomorphology I) and 22 (Geomorphology II) is criticized for its impressionistic slope shading, which fails to convey a clear picture of the sea bed around Italy and even creates a visual impression of inverted relief. Volume 4 breaks new ground by covering tourism, cultural heritage, and environmental quality across 12 map sheets, followed by environmental alteration maps and satellite imagery. The review concludes that this comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date atlas ranks among the best national atlases.
Marcello Ricci · 1995
The review examines the Touring Club Italiano’s Atlante Tematico d’Italia, tracing its compilation through the 1980 CNR–TCI agreement, the first volume’s appearance in 1989 and completion in March 1993. Its 126 loose-leaf plates cover physical environments, population and settlements, economic resources and activities, and cultural heritage and the environment. Intended chiefly for the general public, the atlas emphasizes changes between the 1951 and 1981 censuses. The reviewer explains how movable plates facilitate comparison and allow updated sheets to be added while retaining earlier ones as historical documentation; such updating was envisaged, not reported as completed. The review describes the Lambert equal-area conic projection and principal scales of 1:4,000,000 and 1:8,000,000, accepting the small scales as a practical compromise between thematic coverage and manageable format. It praises the cartographic communication, with reservations about occasional ambiguous colour tones, and cautions that the second volume’s population graph extending back before 1861 rests on reasonably precise data only from the seventeenth century onward. The reviewer also commends the atlas’s teaching potential and its broad presentation of geographical relationships.
