Włochy Jakuba Sobieskiego

Old Polish culture does not know the romantic concept of journey to Italy as to a place of birth of ancient and modern European civilisation, where artists, philosophers or people of culture should search for the inspiration. In ancient epochs there was a duty of peregrination (which mostly agrees with the concept of Grand Tour that was created in the middle of XVIIth century), which means an educational journey around Europe aimed at confirming and enlarging the historical, theological, social and artistic knowledge. That is the reason of “writing down duty” connected strictly with Old Polish peregrinations, as well as of the domination of mnemonic formulas in travel diaries. Staying in Italy was, in fact, the culmination point of Old Polish peregrination, the final fulfillment stage and confirmation of the gained knowledge, because that place was particulary adequate for these goals. The good example of the aforementioned regularities is the diary of Jakub Sobieski (the father of king Jan III) which comes from the period from 1607 to 1613 and which is an outstanding work as well as a very characteristic piece of Old Polish travel culture. Sobieski’s diary also has some unique qualities. The authentic fascination by the beauty of Italy causes some significant − modifications in the area of mnemonic formulas used in the description.