This beautiful bird’s eye view of San Pietro near Genoa comes from the rare second volume of Johann Christoph Volckamer’s ‘Nurnbergische Hesperides’. Volkamer was the son of a physician, botanist and gardener, who visited Italy. When he returned to Nuremberg he built a large greenhouse in his garden at Gostenhof, the house and garden later inherited by his oldest son, Johann Christoph, who shared his father’s love of both Italy and gardening. During his youth he spent several years in Italy, he visited many gardens beginning to study the endless varieties of citrus fruit he saw. The first part of his book published in 1708 was a great success, the second volume came out in 1714. The views of Italian houses and gardens in this second volume are mostly taken from the country round Venice, the Brenta, the Euganean hills and those near Bologna. (Oak Spring Pomona pp.191-9). Dunthorne 323; Hunt 420; Nissen 2076; Pritzel 9848-9.