Il Centro del Mondo
Apriamo una carta del mondo e senza accorgercene accettiamo che il mondo sia fatto proprio così. Ma una mappa non può conservare tutto: deve scegliere che cosa mostrare, che cosa deformare e perfino da dove guardare.Da Matteo Ricci a Mercatore, dalle proiezioni equivalenti alle carte contemporanee, un viaggio dentro una domanda apparentemente semplice: esiste una carta “giusta”?FontiMatteo Ricci, Kun yu wan guo quan tu [坤輿萬國全圖], Beijing, 1602. Library of Congress, Geography and Map DivisionDonna Urschel, “The Many Facets of Matteo Ricci: 1602 World Map Created in Six Stages”, Library of Congress Information Bulletin, maggio 2010Yuval Givon, “The Jesuit Meridian: Centre as Practice in Seventeenth-Century World Images”, Itinerario, Cambridge University Press, 2026, pp. 1–19, DOI: 10.1017/S0165115326100837Gerhard Mercator, Nova et aucta orbis terrae descriptio ad usum navigantium emendate accomodata, Duisburg, 1569. Esemplare digitalizzato: Universitätsbibliothek Basel, Kartenslg AA 3-5, DOI: 10.3931/e-rara-25290Nicolas Auguste Tissot, Mémoire sur la représentation des surfaces et les projections des cartes géographiques, Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1881John P. Snyder, Map Projections—A Working Manual, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1395, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government Printing Office, 1987, DOI: 10.3133/pp1395Michael T. Gastner e Krisztián Kerkovits, Choosing World Map Projections — When Equal-Area Is Appropriate (and Why There Is No Single “Correct” Projection), International Cartographic Association, Commission on Map Projections, Fact Sheet n. 1, 2026Istituto Idrografico della Marina, Carte nautiche, Marina Militare ItalianaAaron L. Shalowitz, Shore and Sea Boundaries: With Special Reference to the Interpretation and Use of Coast and Geodetic Survey Data, vol. 2, U.S. Department of Commerce, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington D.C., 1964, Part 2, Chapt 6, “Interpretation and Use of Nautical Charts”Mark Monmonier, Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2004James Gall, “Use of Cylindrical Projections for Geographical, Astronomical, and Scientific Purposes”, Scottish Geographical Magazine, vol. 1, n. 4, 1885, pp. 119–123Jeremy W. Crampton, “Cartography’s Defining Moment: The Peters Projection Controversy, 1974–1990”, Cartographica, vol. 31, n. 4, 1994, pp. 16–32, DOI: 10.3138/1821-6811-L372-345PTreccani, “Peters, carta di”, Lessico del XXI Secolo, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2013Bojan Šavrič, Tom Patterson, Bernhard Jenny, “The Equal Earth map projection”, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, vol. 33, n. 3, 2019, pp. 454–465, DOI: 10.1080/13658816.2018.1504949Tom Patterson, Equal Earth Projection, Equal EarthGoogle for Developers, Map and Tile Coordinates, Google Maps JavaScript APIEPSG Geodetic Parameter Dataset, WGS 84 / Pseudo-Mercator, EPSG:3857Jorge Luis Borges, “Del rigore nella scienza”, El hacedor, Buenos Aires, Emecé Editores, 1960Jerry Brotton, A History of the World in Twelve Maps, London, Allen Lane, 2012United Nations General Assembly, Correct the Map: Rebalancing the World’s Cartographic Representation and Promoting the Equitable Representation of the Regions of the World, Particularly Africa, A/RES/80/104, 4 settembre 2026United Nations, Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, “Victory for Africa as UN Votes on Resolution to ‘Correct the Map’”, 8 settembre 2026Robert Dussey, “Introduction of the Draft Resolution Entitled ‘Correct the Map: Rebalancing the World’s Cartographic Representation and Promoting the Equitable Representation of the Regions of the World, Particularly Africa’”, intervento all’Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite, settembre 2026Musica: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata in do maggiore K.545, I. Allegro — pianoforte: Robin Alciatore. Registrazione proveniente da Musopen, public domain; via Wikimedia Commons, autorizzazione verificata VRTS #2008012110017088