Francois-Maximilien Misson (c. 1650–1722), Nouveau voyage d’Italie (1691)

Misson was a traveler, author and protestant minister, who was born in Lyon but later took refuge to England on the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685. Serving as tutor to Charles Butler, who later became Earl of Arran, Misson made the Grand Tour in 1687 and 1688. He travelled by way of…Continue reading

Filippo Baldinucci, Notizie de’ Professori del Disegno da Cimabue in qua (1681-1686)

Filippo Baldinucci came from a prominent and wealthy family of Florentine merchants. A painter, theoretician, and biographer of mostly Italian artists, he worked for both the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando II de’ Medici, and for his brother Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici. As a curator of the Grand Ducal collection, he was one of Italy’s…Continue reading

Paolo Tronci (1585-1648), Memorie Istoriche della Citta di Pisa (1682)

Paolo Tronci writes about the power of the earth in the Camposanto and how the earth got to Pisa. He also says that the holy earth was spread out next to the church of S. Giovanni al Gaetano and that it has the same ability to decompose bodies in a very short amount of time.…Continue reading

Raffaello Roncioni (1553-1618), Delle Istorie pisane (1592-1606)

Raffaello Roncioni was born in Ranieri in the middle of the sixteenth century. In his Delle Istorie pisane from 1592 to 1606, Roncioni tells the story of Pisa. For our concerns, it is important that he writes about the founding of the Camposanto. He describes how the holy earth got to Pisa thanks to Archbishop Ubaldo…Continue reading

Joseph Furttenbach (1591-1667), Newes Itinerarium Italiae (1627)

Joseph Furttenbach’s Newes Itinerarium Italiae differs from other travel guides or diaries about Italy written by his English counterparts. Whereas most English travel logs written in the seventeenth century were based on notes taken by aristocratic Englishmen or their traveling companions during their Grand Tour of continental Europe, Furttenbach migrated to Italy and stayed there…Continue reading

John Evelyn (1620-1706), Diary (1644)

John Evelyn’s diary is a classic of its kind. His diary is closer to a memoir than a diary, as he starts the book with a description of his family and his childhood home. The first volume is devoted to Evelyn’s Grand Tour. Evelyn spent about three years, from 1644 to 1647, in continental Europe,…Continue reading John Evelyn (1620-1706), Diary (1644)

Written Camposanto