Francesco Negri (; 27 March 1623–27 December 1698) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

who, during 1663–1666, travelled in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

. In 1670, he published an account of his travels entitled ''Viaggio settentrionale''.

Biography

Negri was born in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

, then part of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

, and left his home city in 1663 to set out on his travels. When the middle-aged priest left his hometown of Ravenna and undertook a three-year voyage in Scandinavia, he became the first. Thus he was seen as unusual for an Italian by the Scandinavians in travelling independently, reflecting the contemporary image of his compatriots by other nations. As an example, King

Frederick III of Denmark Frederick III ( da, Frederik; 18 March 1609 – 9 February 1670) was King of Denmark and Norway from 1648 until his death in 1670. He also governed under the name Frederick II as diocesan administrator (colloquially referred to as prince-bi ...

expressed surprise at seeing him so far from home. Negri wrote often with a scientific perspective, examining the flora and fauna of the region, and made a series of

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

observations, especially on the physical characteristics of the natives of Lapland. His approach was far from being reliably scientific in the modern sense, however, and he took his native region of Italy as the norm for considering differences with other populations. Francesco Negri died in 1698 and his heirs had the manuscript published, which he had taken to the printer a few days before his death.

Biography

Travel stories

References

See also