Cesare Federici

An Italian merchant and traveler, Federici is the best known for his travel to India of which he left a written testimony.

“Very desirous to see the East parts of the World” he left his native Venice in 1563, travelled via Aleppo and Hormuz, and crossed the Indian Ocean. Since he didn’t have a license issued by the Portuguese authorities to travel to India, he was captured and deported to Diu at Gujarat and after that to Goa, their colonial capital. However, he managed to get hold of freedom and to proceed his journey to inland India. Federici would spent the following eighteen years in the commercial pursuits and travels on the southern coasts and islands of Asia all the way to Sumatra.

He returned to Venice in 1581 and published the account regarding his voyages which contains interesting information about social, cultural and economic features of the visited lands. It is published at Venice in 1587.