Heinrich Wilhelm Ludolf in Italy: Networks, Projects and Universal Church at the turn of the 17th and the 18th Century

H.W. Ludolf devoted much of his life to travel, describing himself as a “Christian pilgrim”. Such a definition enshrines his identity in travel and religion, as evidenced also by his extraordinary multilingual correspondence and his portrait with a Jerusalem pilgrim tattoo in the foreground. Researches have so far concentrated on his relations with England, on his journeys to Russia and to the Holy Land and the Near East, in which Italy was an intermediate stop. In my paper, I will focus on the Italian part of Ludolf's travels: on his trans-confessional networks, on the detailed pieces of information he provides A.H. Francke with about the cities where he stops (Rome, Livorno, Venice): useful contacts, climate, prices, but also infrastructure, communication routes, means of transport, and languages. The information provided by Ludolf is a sort of vademecum for those who would have traveled his same routes after him: in this way, it constitutes an unprecedented way to understand the material aspects of travel at the turn of the 18th century, as well as Ludolf’s perception of the relationships between different cultures and confessions. The main purpose of Ludolf's travels is the "missionary" intent aimed at building the Universal Church that was at the heart of his religious vision. It was an invisible “imagined” church that could become visible whenever networks and shared projects came into being between reborn or “true Christians”, regardless of their confessional membership (or lack of it).