Giacomo Filippo Foresti was from a noble family near Bergamo and entered the order of the Augustine Hermits at the age of 17 or 18. Author of several historiographical and humanist publications, he composed the “Supplementum” as an updated version of older world chronicles, following a strict chronological order of presentation. The book was reprinted many times, revised by Foresti himself in the early fifteenth century, and also translated into Italian. The entry for Pisa is linked to the year 1101 before Christ, when the city is said to have been founded by the Greeks. The short summary of the ancient and medieval history of Pisa, and the notice of its recent surrender to the dominion of Florence, is followed by a succint appraisal of the splendor of the buildings. Here, the worldwide renown of the Camposanto is highlighted. / DG
Foresti, Supplementum chronicarum_42v
Source: Giacomo Filippo Foresti, Supplementum Chronicarum (Venice: Bernardinus Benalius, 1483), fol. 42v.
Transcription
“Ea [=Pisa] tamen superbissimis edifiis et pontibus super Arnum clarissimis exornata est. Habet et hec ipsa pisanorum civitas templum dive virgini dicatum et claustrum toto orbe celeberrimum quod campus sanctus nuncupatur. Quod videre et mirari incredibile videtur.”
Translation
“Nonetheless this city is decorated with the most splendid buildings and very illustrious bridges across the Arno. The same city of the Pisans has a church dedicated to the divine Virgin and a cloister that is most renowned in the whole world and is called Camposanto. This seems incredible when you see and admire it.”