Zuane Pizzigano

Zuane Pizzigano (sometimes given as Giovanni Pizzigano), was a 15th-century Venetian cartographer. He is the author of a famous 1424 portolan chart, the first known to depict the Antillia island group (Antillia, Satanazes, Royllo and Tanmar), a cluster of legendary islands in the north Atlantic Ocean.

Little is known of Zuane Pizzigano, save that he was probably a relative (possibly a descendant) of the Venetian cartographers Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano, who made a famous 1367 portolan chart.

Zuane Pizzigano is the author of the influential 1424 portolan chart, known simply as the "Pizzigano Map", measuring 57 by 90 cm (22 by 35 in). The map was first discovered in 1953, among the thousands of manuscripts in the library of the noted collector Sir Thomas Phillipps. It is currently held by the James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, USA. (B1424mPi)

Identification of the author is not certain. The legend on the 1424 map reads: Mccccxxiiij adi xxij auosto Zuane pizzi..... afato questa carta ("1424 on 22 August, Zuane Pizzi..... made this map"), with the part after the last name "Pizzi" smudged, seemingly tracing an attempt to erase and then restore the author's name. The smudged space, under infrared light, does seem to reveal something like "pizzigano".Zuane is a common Venetian variant of Giovanni' (John). While his name is uncertain, the date is not. Comparison with later maps of the 15th century shows that other cartographers had copied Pizzigano in several important respects, so his work was significant.

The 1424 Pizzigano map is a nautical portolan chart that is limited to western Europe, northwest Africa, and a large swathe of the north Atlantic Ocean. He featured both real and mythical islands in the outer area. The map has notes in Venetian and Portuguese.

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