Elizabeth Israel, fourth-year architecture student, has been awarded two grants to spend 12 weeks in Rome producing an English translation of Itinerarium Urbis Romae.
In March, Israel received an Undergraduate Travel and Research Grant from the University of Notre Dame’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies to work on the guidebook. In April, Israel also won the Albert Ravarino Italian Studies Travel Scholarship through the Italian Studies Program.
Israel intends to produce an annotated and illustrated English translation of the original 16th century guidebook, a 251-page manuscript written in Latin by a Florentine monk, Friar Mariano da Firenze. It describes itineraries for early Christian pilgrims visiting Rome. In addition to translation, Israel will attempt to follow the routes exactly as written, and hopes to document what still exists in Rome and what has been or altered or destroyed. The text will be supplemented with watercolor illustrations and free-hand sketches.