In the late 1660s the English court received a visitor from Florence—Lorenzo Magalotti, an intelligent, sensitive writer and diplomat with a passion for observation and description. Magalotti had come from a state governed by an absolute grand duke to a kingdom engaged in a fierce struggle for political liberty, and from a society in which the sexual behaviour of women was closely controlled by law and custom, to one of unexampled licentiousness among the upper classes. This cultural shock produced fascinating portraits by Magalotti of Charles II and his court, accounts of their amorous intrigues, and percipient if sometimes biased observations on politics. There is also substantially accurate account of the armed forces of the kingdom, and a good deal about its intellectual and artistic life.
W.E. Knowles Middleton has provided a clear and elegant translation of this document, along with an informative introduction and supplementary notes.