Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta | |
|---|---|
 Venetian scholar who was one of the first to complete the first circumnavigation of the World. This portrait (from the Marasca Collection, Biblioteca Bertoliana of Vicenza) is traditionally believed to represent Antonio Pigafetta. The ancient drawing was based on a statue in the Civic Museum of Vicenza, originally coming from St. Michael church (were the Pigafettas had a family tomb). It really represents another Pigafetta, Gio. Alberto of Gerolamo (died 1562, 29 years old).[1] | |
| Born | Around 1491 |
| Other names | Antonio Lombardo |
Antonio Pigafetta (1491 — 1534) was a Venetian scholar and traveller born in Vicenza. He travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew on their voyage to the Indies. During the expedition, he became a strict assistant of Magellan and kept an accurate journal which later assisted him in translating one of the Philippine languages, Cebuano. It is the first recorded document concerning this language.
Out of approximately 240 men who set out with Magellan in 1519, Pigafetta was one of only 18 who returned to Spain in 1522, having completed the first circumnavigation of the World, under the captainship of Juan Sebastián Elcano after Magellan's death. His journal is the source for much of what we know about Magellan and Elcano's voyage.
At least one warship of the Italian Navy, a destroyer of the Navigatori class, was named after him in 1931.
In popular culture
A 2002 film (Lapu-Lapu) about the Philippine hero Lapu-Lapu depicts Antonio Pigafetta as a member of Magellan's expedition on the island of Cebu.
See also
Bibliography
- Lord Stanley of Alderley, The first voyage round the world, by Magellan, London : Hakluyt [1874] - includes Pigefetta's journal and his treatise of navigation
