Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola

From Montersello, near Vignola, Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola became secretary to the Marquis Obizzi de Ferrara in 1669, after studying at the University of Bologna. He later took a post with the French ambassador and went to Paris, where he met the French cartographers Sanson, Du Val, and Michel Antoine Baudrand. He then joined the retinue of Count Rinieri Marescotti, and whilst travelling with the Count in Rome in about 1675, met the publisher Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi, who began to publish his maps. They appeared in subsequent volumes of de’ Rossi’s Mercurio Geografico ouero guida geografica in tutte le parti del mondo conforme le tauolegeografiche del Sansone, Baudrant e Cantelli, which was also edited by Cantelli. Two volumes published in 1692 included eighty-eight of Cantelli’s maps.

From 1685, Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola was official geographer to Reggio Francesco II d’Este, Duke of Modena.