The best edition, and the first in French, of this fundamental study on the geological and volcanological constitution of Campania and the Roman territory. The work had already appeared in an abridged, unillustrated, and highly incorrect edition ["fourmillant d'erreurs", Preface, p. IV] as Topografia fisica della Campania. Among the 6 copperplate engravings, noteworthy are: the beautiful Carte physique de la Campanie [70 x 58 cm], in coloring contemporary with the watercolor; the Carte des Cratéres eteints entre Naples et Cumes [38 x 47 cm]; and the Plan physique de la ville de Rome [38 x 32 cm]. "This work... is in many respects supplementary to Spallanzani's Travels. Breislak also contributed the first research on the geology and stratigraphy of Rome and of the part of the Apennines that surrounds the volcanic area of the Italian mainland" [Zittel, p. 78]. Scipione Breislak [Rome 1748-Milan 1826] was a professor of physics in Ragusa and then, during the Napoleonic period, "administrator of the nitres and dust of Italy." An opponent of the Neptunian school of geology, he published numerous important works of geological interest on southern Italy, the Tyrol, and the Lombard lakes.