Abstract
This study surveys the portolan atlas called "L'Arte vera navegatione di Gio. Francesco Monno" in the University of Genoa, Italy. It was drawn by Giovanni Francesco Monno from Monaco in 1633. In the 17th century, the chart schools in Genoa have begun to decline. As the production of chart, there were several schools in Italy, Spain and France, such as Vesconte, Pizigano and Agnese. However it seems that he didn't belong to any schools. In addition, in this period, maps and charts in print have already appeared and come into fairly common. He also left a few manuscript charts and atlases that are kept in Italy and England today. The portolans are possible to be classified into 3 types, i.e. charts, atlases and original portolans included descriptions of navigation and astronomy, topographies and charts. The atlas of Monno comes under the latest. It is made up of the navigation's guide, 7 charts and descriptions about the ports and the islands in the Mediterranean. There are also 29 small charts in the descripitons. And its volume amounts to 200 pages.In this presentation, mention is made of the contents of the atlas, the topographical features, the characteristic representation of note and geographical information in the atlas. The importance of the atlas of Monno would be viewed from the history of cartography.
