Two sources on traditional customs of the 17th century in Istria

This paper offers new insight into two manuscript sources of the 17th century Istria: Prospero Petronio’s voluminous Delle memorie dell’Istria, sacre e profane and Vinko Pikot’s The Chronicles of Grdoselo. Petronio was a learned physician and local historian. His manuscript, namely its second part (the first part is missing), which is kept at the Archivio di Stato in Venice, dates back from the year 1681. Two chapters (“On weddings” and “On bringing up children. The baptism”) are given here in Croatian translation. Pikot was a modest village-priest and his Chronicles, dating from 1688, offer a literary less ambitious discourse. However, both manuscripts are rare and valuable sources, containing plenty of information on Istrian everyday life and traditional customs of the 17th century.