Castelli e arsenali delle isole balcaniche nella Peregrinatio di Bernhard von Breydenbach

The voyage across the Mare Nostrum has had many meanings over the centuries: from the devotional purposes predominant in the pilgrimages of the Middle Ages, from the commercial exchanges that saw the establishment of merchant colonies in the main cities and harbour ports, to the movement of armies during the crusades and the diplomatic missions of ambassadors, nobles and knights during the Renaissance. From the 15th century onwards, relations between Italian courts and Mediterranean countries were not limited to mercantile aspects: scholars, clergymen and men of culture, driven by the Renaissance season and the rediscovery of the classical world, visited the Holy Land. Renaissance travellers of Franco-Renaissance culture left some of the most interesting depictions of the cities they visited in their diaries. The Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam published in 1486 by Bernhard von Breydenbach, canon of Mainz, represents one of the main models of an itinerary in the Holy Land accompanied by some of the greatest expressions of the cartographic culture of the end of the century.