In the fifteenth-century portolan charts considered here the winds had merged with the directions of the compass. The eight principal compass bearings, named for the wind directions, became (in Italian): Tramontana (N), Griego (NE), Levante (E), Syrroccho (SE), Mezzodi (S), Garbino (SW), Ponente (W), and Maistro (NW). (Brown 1949, 126). The figure that shows these directions and winds is sometimes called a wind rose, which is not a good name, as was pointed out by Tony Campbell. The preferable term is compass rose. (Campbell 1987, 395).

The 1489 and 1466 portolan charts both have compass roses; the 1424 does not. It should be noted, however, that the rhumb network of the nautical chart itself is a "compass rose."