Since early modern maps and nautical charts served as both a medium of communication and a tool for conveying messages, they typically included structural elements like scientifically accurate representations along with artistic embellishments. This chapter re-examines the decorative and symbolic elements found in early modern nautical charts of the Adriatic Sea, focusing on their ideological, political, cultural, and symbolic significance. Key artistic features—such as compass roses and illustrations of patron saints, animals, monsters, and humans—are analysed to reveal their varied meanings. The study explores decorative elements’ rhetoric, their content suppression or distortion, and information hierarchy. It investigates the cultural contexts of artistic choices, and the collaborative practices involved in map production across various cartographic traditions. The findings reveal that these decorative features symbolized cultural, religious, social, and economic connections that linked the Adriatic to the Mediterranean and European Christian traditions. In particular, Venetian maps highlighted themes of state sovereignty and imperial ambitions. Venice, through its cartography, asserted territorial control and influenced political concepts and practices, thereby showcasing its dominance in the region.