This map by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, featured in his Petit Atlas Maritime, provides a detailed plan of the fortified city of Savona, located on the Ligurian coast along the Mediterranean Sea. The plan focuses on Savona's significant military architecture, including its Citadel (La Citadelle), the city’s major gates (Porte St. Augustin, Porte de Final, Porte St. Jean), and its comprehensive fortifications. The map also includes key features of the harbor, such as the Port pour des Barques and the Ancien Port qui a été rempli (Old Port, which has been filled in).
Bellin’s map highlights the strategic military role of Savona, emphasizing its coastal defenses and positioning in relation to the Mediterranean. The detail provided in the fortifications and topography is typical of Bellin’s works, created for both navigational and military purposes. The decorative cartouche at the lower right adds an artistic touch to the functional design.
As part of Bellin’s larger Petit Atlas Maritime, this map would have been used by military strategists and navigators to understand the defensive and logistical layout of the city.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at only the age of 18, he was appointed Hydrographer to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.
During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Dépôt was the one of the most active centers for the production of sea charts and maps in Europe. Their output included a folio-format sea atlas of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea atlases of the world, including the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame and distinction all over Europe and were republished throughout the eighteenth and even in the nineteenth century.
Bellin also produced smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely-detailed charts. He also contributed a number of maps for the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost.
Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, cementing France's leading role in European cartography and geography during this period. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers across the continent.