This book describes the travels of Pietro de la Valle who was born in Rome in 1586 and whose travels took him to Constantinople, Asia Minor, Egypt, Palestine, Baghdad - where he married an Assyrian Christian in 1616 - and Persia. In 1621 he went from Ispahan to Shiraz and then the Gulf of Ormuz. Thereafter he travelled extensively in India, Cyprus, Malta and Sicily. In 1626 he came from Naples to Rome where he lived, fathering 14 sons, till he killed one of the Pope's servants, and had to flee the city. He died peacefully in 1652. The editor of this book has also written several books, including The Vatican and its Finances, and a biography of Leonardo di Vinci.