Concise journal of my return to Europe (1723-24)

Publisher: UniorPress

Series: Miscellaneous

Pages: 138

Language: Italian

NBN:

Abstract: Published on the occasion of the three hundredth anniversary of the return of Father Matteo Ripa from China, where he had spent about 12 years as a painter and engraver at the court of the Qing Emperor Kangxi (r. 1662-1722), the volume presents the unpublished transcription of his diary relating to the return journey, which began with the departure from Beijing on 15 November 1723 and ended exactly one year later with the arrival in Naples between 19 and 20 November 1724. The text, transcribed from Ripa's first-hand notes, and not from the revised edition of the Giornale in five volumes, which was produced about twenty years later, is accompanied by a long introduction, which illustrates the reasons that led the missionary to ask for permission to leave the court; the four Chinese students who accompanied him to form the first nucleus of the College (called the College of the Chinese) are also outlined. The work contains a rich apparatus of notes and illustrations and four appendices, dedicated respectively to the complete list of all the baggage that Ripa brought with him, to his passport, to the four students as described by himself and to the tragic execution of the Portuguese Jesuit Father João Mourão, his antagonist. The entire work has the English translation on the facing page. The volume is dedicated to the memory of the greatest scholar of Ripa and his works, Prof. Michele Fatica (1936-2024).