“If there was no Rome, then Kraków would be Rome.” Incredible relation of the Italian traveler from the 16th-century capital of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Cardinal Caetani was sent to Poland with a mission of extreme importance. This delegate of Pope Clement VIII was to persuade the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to become involved in the activities of the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire. One of the members of the legation, the papal ceremonial master Giovanni Mucante, left a diary after this visit. Inside we can find a fantastic description of the 16th-century Kraków, so we can travel back in time to the capital of the…