This pictorial map is a colourful and detailed depiction of Italy, highlighting regional foods and beverages, celebrating the gastronomic delights of the country and surrounding islands. The title 'Carta Gastronomica de Bel Paese' is prominently displayed in an ornate cartouche of fruits and vegetables surrounding a compass rose. this example is particularly scarce in that it contains 'Chianti I.L. Ruffino' Pontassieve - Firenze at the bottom of the map.

Vsevolode Nicouline (Vsevolod Petrovič Nikulin, 1890-1968) was a Russian-Italian artist, illustrator, and set designer. Born in Mykolaiv, in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine) to an Orthodox priest, he attended the Odessa Art College (now the Grekov Odessa Art School), where he studied with Italian sculptors Luigi Iorini and Giuseppe Mormone, before enrolling at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1917. The Russian Revolution derailed Nicouline's studies and he became an officer in the White Russian forces. As the Bolsheviks gained the upper hand, he fled to Constantinople and then to Genoa. His works included the fine pictorial maps of Italy and its regions first published as Imago Italiae in 1941.

Original lithograph poster, mounted on linen, poster size: 1000 x 660 mm. Framed and glazed, overall size: 1050 x 725 mm.