PREFACE.
 

I HOPE the following itinerary may prove nearly as in¬
teresting and attractive in the English Version as it is
in the quaint medieval Italian, in which Canon Pietro
Casola recorded the events of his momentous voyage,
for the amusement and instruction of his Milanese friends,
more than four hundred years ago.

Those who desire to know more about the writer and
the friends with whom the chances of the journey brought
him in contact, will find, in the Introduction and the
Notes, what the dusty shelves of the Archives could furnish
concerning them.

Foir those who care to learn more than Casola tells
about the conditions in which medieval pilgrims carried
out their pious purpose, I have traced, as far as possible,
the legislation of the Venetian Republic with regard to
the pilgrim traffic, from early times to the last law on
the Statute Book. It has been a labour of love and yet
disappointing. So few documents, comparatively speak¬
ing, have survived the destructive influences of time and
the many great fires which devastated the Venetian State
Eecords. Enough remains, however, to enable us to form
a clear idea of the intentions of the legislators, and of
the ceaseless war they had to wage, against the egoistical
tendencies of human nature, in the effort to carry them
into effect.

It only remains for me to thank heartily my many
kind friends in the Record Offices and Libraries of Venice
and Milan, and especially at the Archives of Venice, and