Ischia, Idola, olim Aenaria is Joan Blaeu’s elegant tribute to the volcanic jewel of the Bay of Naples, engraved in 1663 at the height of the Dutch cartographic renaissance. The title preserves the island’s layered identity—“olim Aenaria,” once the Roman Aenaria—signaling the learned classicism that runs through Blaeu’s work. A lavish cartouche anchors the top-left corner, its baroque scrolls framing the island’s name, while a finely balanced composition marries political detail with physical geography. The coastline is crisply traced, coves and headlands differentiated with confident line, and the surrounding waters teem with meticulously drawn ships that hint at the island’s maritime economy. At bottom right, a decorative Latin legend clarifies the symbology, lending scholarly authority to an image of undeniable aesthetic poise.

Blaeu renders Ischia’s dramatic relief with consummate artistry. Sweeping hachures and shaded ridgelines model the island’s mountainous spine, culminating in the commanding summit of Epomeo, from which a fan of ravines flows toward the sea. The coastal perimeter alternates between steep, darkly shaded cliffs and gentler sweeps that imply beaches and harbors, creating a tactile sense of terrain that is both descriptive and painterly. Bodies of water are named in flowing cursive, their forms enlivened by rhythmic stippling and elegantly curved coastlines. This union of pictorial depth and measured exactitude evokes the island’s volcanic origins while guiding the eye along promontories and inlets that once dictated navigation, settlement, and defense in the Tyrrhenian seascape.

Political intelligence is woven through the landscape with a quiet, methodical hand. Settlements—Ischia Porto and Ischia Ponte, Casamicciola, Forio, and Lacco Ameno—are distinguished by discrete symbols that suggest hierarchy and function, their coastal siting reflecting centuries of seaborne trade and vigilant watch over the approaches to Naples. Small harbor marks and the bustle of sails in the encircling waters attest to active anchorage and local fisheries, while the ring of towns traces the island’s habitable margins around a rugged interior. The arrangement reads almost as an ethnography of space: fortified nodes, working quays, and market hamlets stitched to the shore, their Latinized labels confirming the cosmopolitan vocabulary through which Blaeu communicated regional particularities to a Europe of scholars and navigators.

The map bears all the signatures of Joan Blaeu’s Amsterdam atelier—crisp copperplate engraving, learned Latin text, and a taste for ornament that elevates geography to the level of the liberal arts. As chief architect of the Blaeu firm’s grand publishing projects, including the Atlas Maior, Blaeu combined the newest reports and Italian surveys with a humanist reverence for classical sources. His plates are paragons of clarity: a disciplined grid of symbols and lines wrapped in an embrace of baroque decoration, from the sculptural cartouche to the poised fleet that animates the margins. This synthesis of utility and beauty exemplifies the Golden Age ethos that made Dutch maps the benchmark for accuracy, readability, and allure.

Created when Spanish Naples ruled the southern peninsula and the Bay of Naples was a strategic maritime theater, Blaeu’s Ischia captures an island poised between antiquity and the early modern world. The retention of Aenaria in the title bridges Roman metallurgy and myth to baroque scholarship, while the measured depiction of relief and coastlines reflects a new scientific cartography confident enough to be artful. For merchants, sailors, and natural philosophers alike, such a map condensed essential knowledge: safe waters, harbors, settlements, and the sovereign logic of terrain. Today it stands as a lucid portrait of place and time—an island sketched with empathy and erudition, its contours legible both to the navigator’s eye and the collector’s imagination.

Cities and towns on this map

• Ischia Porto
• Ischia Ponte
• Casamicciola Terme
• Forio
• Lacco Ameno

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Detailed topographical representation of Ischia.
• Illustrations of ships in the surrounding waters, indicating maritime activity.
• Various settlements marked with unique symbols.
• Ornate cartouche at the top left corner containing the map title.
• Decorative legend at the bottom right corner, including Latin text.
• Mountain ranges and coastal features depicted with shading to indicate elevation.
• Bodies of water labeled with cursive script, enhancing the map’s aesthetic.

Historical and design context

• Name of the map: Ischia, Idola, olim Aenaria.
• Mapmaker: Joan Blaeu; Year created: 1663.
• Created during the Golden Age of Dutch cartography; Blaeu’s maps contributed significantly to European geographical knowledge and science.
• The map features intricate illustrations and a decorative cartouche, typical of Blaeu’s work, emphasizing the artistic aspect of cartography.
• The map displays both physical landscapes (mountains and coastlines) and political features (towns and harbors).
• Focuses on Ischia in the Bay of Naples, Italy.

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.