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VALLE, PIETRO DELLA (1586–1652)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 863 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VALLE, PIETRO DELLA (1586–1652) , See also:Italian traveller in the See also:East, came of a See also:noble See also:Roman See also:family, and was See also:born on the 11th of See also:April 1586, in the family See also:palace built by See also:Cardinal See also:Andrea. His See also:early See also:life was divided between the pursuits of literature and arms. He saw active service against the See also:Moors of See also:Barbary, but also became a member of the Roman See also:academy of the Umoristi, and acquired some reputation as a versifier and rhetorician. The See also:idea of travelling in the East was suggested by a disappointment in love, as an alternative to See also:suicide, and was ripened to a fixed purpose by a visit to the learned See also:Mario Schipano, See also:professor of See also:medicine in See also:Naples, to whom the See also:record of Pietro's travels was addressed in the See also:form of very elaborate letters, based on a full See also:diary. Before leaving Naples he took a See also:vow of See also:pilgrimage to the See also:Holy See also:Land, and, sailing from See also:Venice on the 8th of See also:June 1614, reached See also:Constantinople, where he remained for more than a See also:year, and acquired a See also:good knowledge of See also:Turkish and a little Arabic. On the 25th of See also:September 1615 he sailed for See also:Alexandria with a See also:suite of nine persons, for he travelled always as a nobleman of distinction, and with every See also:advantage due to his See also:rank. From Alexandria he went on to See also:Cairo, and, after an excursion to See also:Mount See also:Sinai, See also:left Cairo for the Holy Land on the 8th of See also:March 1616, in See also:time to assist at the See also:Easter celebrations at See also:Jerusalem. Having visited the holy sites, he journeyed by See also:Damascus to See also:Aleppo, and thence to See also:Bagdad, where he married a Syrian See also:Christian named Maani, a native of See also:Mardin, who died in 1621. He now desired to visit See also:Persia; but, as that See also:country was then at See also:war with See also:Turkey, he had to leave Bagdad by stealth on the 4th of See also:January 1617. Accompanied by his wife he proceeded by See also:Hamadan to See also:Isfahan, and joined Shah Abbas in a See also:campaign in See also:northern Persia, in the summer of 1618. Here he was well received at See also:court and treated as the shah's See also:guest. On his return to Isfahan he began to think of returning by See also:India rather than See also:adventure himself again in Turkey; but the See also:state of his See also:health, and the war between Persia and the Portuguese at Ormuz, created difficulties.

In See also:

October 1621 he started from Isfahan, and, visiting See also:Persepolis and See also:Shiraz, made his way to the See also:coast; but it was not till January 1623 that he found passage for See also:Surat on the See also:English See also:ship " See also:Whale." In India he remained till See also:November 1624, his headquarters being Surat and See also:Goa. He was at See also:Muscat in January 1625, and at See also:Basra in March. In May he started by the See also:desert route for Aleppo, and took ship at See also:Alexandretta on a See also:French See also:vessel. Touching at See also:Cyprus he reached See also:Rome on the 28th of March 1626, and was received with much See also:honour, not only by See also:literary circles, but by See also:Pope See also:Urban VIII., who appointed him a See also:gentleman of his bedchamber. The See also:rest of his life was uneventful; he married as second wife a Georgian See also:orphan of noble family, Mariuccia (Tinatin de Ziba), whom his first wife had adopted as a See also:child, and who had accompanied him in all his journeys. By her he had fourteen sons. He died at Rome on the 21st of April 1652. In Pietro della Valle's lifetime there were printed—(1p a Funeral Oration on his Wife Maani, whose remains he brought with him to Rome and buried there (1627) ; (2) an See also:Account of Shah Abbas, printed at Venice in 1628, but not published; (3) the first See also:part of the See also:letter describing his Travels (Turkey, 165o). The Travels in Persia (2 parts) were published by his sons in 1658, and the third part (India) in 1663. An English See also:translation appeared in 1665 (fol.). Of the Italian See also:text the editon of See also:Brighton, 1843 (2 vols. 8vo), is more esteemed than the other reprints.

It contains a See also:

sketch of the author's life by Gio. P. Bellori (1622). Della Valle's See also:story is often prolix, with a tendency to the rhetorical; but he is clear and exact, well informed and very instructive, so that his See also:work still possesses high value.

End of Article: VALLE, PIETRO DELLA (1586–1652)

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