Petrarch's Itinerarium: A Proposed Route for a Pilgrimage from Genoa to the Holy Land

This volume offers a new edition of the Latin text of Petrarch's Itinerarium, with introduction, translation, and commentary. The Itinerarium was written as a guide for Giovanni Mandelli, a Milanese noble connected with the Visconti family, who was planning a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in April 1358. Although written in haste, the book shows Petrarch's sure grasp of geography as he describes the proposed journey from Genoa to Jerusalem, briefly, but incisively. The frequent allusions to history and literature display Petrarch's deep learning in a format which is very congenial to the modern reader and constitute a kind of index to his broad intellectual and spiritual concerns.