The request for "Globes" started as private princely commissions from a highly discriminating class, mostly concentrated in the courts of Northern and Central Europe. The art of coated cards globes, terrestrial or celestial, handwritten and often finely decorated, originated in Italy. Coronelli was among the initiators of this art. The most famous Coronelli globes are divided into 2 groups: the first includes the Globes manufactured for the Duke of Parma and Louis XIV, which are unique for their extraordinary quality; the second one includes those built since 1688, as result of the fame of the first.