Agro nolano landscape and encastellation in de nola opuscolum by ambrogio leone

“Nolanus Ager in extremo ac orientali recessu Campanie patet”: this is the first line of the 'De Nola' first book, by Ambrogio Leone. It represents the first comprehensive historical treatment of Nola's land and city at the beginning of the Renaissance. Although researches and studies were conducted on the cartography of the south of Italy from the middle age to the renaissance, it is thought that the view contained in the De Nola's seems to be the most ancient we have ever seen. This chronological priority, compared to other topographic drawings and routes concerning the region of Campania, gives to the engraving an inestimable historical and cultural value. This paper wants to interpret the ancient view taking into account the continuous modern process of the context development. Urban and infrastructural development, agricultural activities and residential needs influenced profoundly the natural equilibrium of that environment, even though fortresses and medieval 'oppida' are still recognizable. The Nola's castled landscape could represent a mean of shared and renewed urban development policies.