Flavio Gioia or Gioja, also known as Ioannes Gira Amalphensis (; 1300 – ?) is reputed to have been an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

mariner, inventor, and supposedly a marine pilot. He has traditionally been credited with developing the sailor's

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...

, but this has been debated. However, he is credited with perfecting it by suspending its needle over a

wind rose A wind rose is a graphic tool used by meteorologists to give a succinct view of how wind speed and direction are typically distributed at a particular location. Historically, wind roses were predecessors of the compass rose (found on charts), as ...

design with north designed by a

fleur-de-lys The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...

, and enclosing it in a box with a glass cover. He was also said to have introduced such design, which pointed North, to defend against

Charles of Anjou Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) ...

, the French king of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Although the surname "Gioia" is true, the name "Flavio" has been demonstrated to be a translation error. His real name was probably Giovanni; and his birthplace has been found to be

Positano Positano (Campanian: ) is a village and ''comune'' on the Amalfi Coast (Province of Salerno), in Campania, Italy, mainly in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast. Climate The climate of Positano is very mild, of the Mediterranean ...

, in the

Amalfi Coast The Amalfi Coast ( it, Costiera amalfitana) is a stretch of coastline in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno. It is located south of the Sorrentine Peninsula and north of the Cilentan Coast. Celebrated worldw ...

. The

lunar crater Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, all of which were formed by impacts. The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated. History The wor ...

Gioja is named after him.

References

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071128001608/http://www.sapere.it/tca/MainApp?srvc=dcmnt&url=%2Ftc%2Fstoria%2Farticoli%2FDP%2FM%2FBussola%2FBussola.jsp Si trattò soltanto di un errore dovuto ad una virgola] (It was just a mistake caused by a comma) (found at sapere.it, stored at archive.org) 13th-century births, Gioia, Flavio 14th-century deaths, Gioia, Flavio Italian sailors, Gioia, Flavio 14th-century Italian inventors, Gioia, Flavio People from Amalfi {{Italy-bio-stub