Rome in 1622

Abstract

The following description of Rome, as it appeared to the eyes of an English traveller in 1622, is taken from an MS. diary in the British Museum (Harl. 6867), which occupies folios 27–40 of a quarto volume of miscellanea. The writer's name is unknown, but it may be conjectured that he was a Roman Catholic.The diary opens with a description of the Medici chapel at S. Lorenzo in Florence, which was often reckoned by English travellers among the wonders of Italy. The author goes on to give a account of a fund established by the Grand Dukes Ferdinand and Cosimo II. in order to give dowries every year to seventy poor maids. The money for the fund was provided by economies in the Dukes' funerals who wished, says the diarist, to be buried like poor men. After a visit to Pisa and Leghorn, where contrary winds prevented him from going by sea to Rome, our traveller went there by the usual posting road through Siena and Viterbo.