The city, here depicted by the artist from an elevated vantage point, is a composite made up of Flemish elements and impressions that he gathered while travelling. This is reflected, for instance, in the painting's middle distance where the Neapolitan Castel dell'Ovo can be found and, on the right, St. Peters in Rome. Brueghel spent a period of time in Italy between 1590 and 1596.