Joan Blaeu’s famous town books of Italy were first published in three volumes (the Vatican, Rome, and Naples and Sicily) in 1663. Two further volumes were added by his heirs in 1682, those of Piedmont and Savoye. Unlike the town books of the Netherlands the Italian volumes not only contain maps and bird’s-eye views, but also many engravings and plans of the towns, palaces, churches, statues and other architecture. It is one of the most visually appealing and highly prized of all illustrated books on Italy. This is a superb bird’s-eye view of the bay at Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice, Provence. The extreme left would be present day Nice, and in the foreground the main peninsula is the location of present day Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. From the ‘Theatrum Statuum Regiae Celsitudinis Sabaudiae Ducis, Pedemontii Principis …’ Fauser, A. 14895; Koeman (1967-70) Bl 76 no. 1058.