1608 — In -8°, pp, 88, cartonato, tagli rossi. Sul verso del frontespizio altro titolo: “Lettera del padre Diego di Pantogia della Compagnia di Giesù al Padre Luigi di Guzman Provinciale nella Provincia di Toledo. Scritta in Pachino corte del Rè della Chiana a di 9 di Marzo, dell’anno 1602. Pubblicata originariamente in spagnolo nel 1605 questa lunga lettera, qui nella sua prima versione italiana, si distingue per la chiarezza argomentativa del testo, quasi giornalistica nel riportare dettagli della vita politica, economica, sociale e religiosa cinese. Il libro è valutato nodale anche come testimonianza circa i rapporti fra religione cattolica e Islam: “This is a very early source written by Christian on Muslims in China proper. The almost non-judgmental treatment of Islam is particularly interesting, although it must be noted that the text was written befor the Jesuit-Muslim conflicts fo the later part of the 16th century, so it must be possible to assume that relations at this time were fairly amicable. [...] The descriptions of Muslim life in China are fairly extensive in comparison with other texts of the early 17th century although, like its counterparts, the text focuses more on other religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Judaism”. (Thomas Davies, John Chesworth, “Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History”, 2012, vol. 11, p. 294. Diego de Pantoja o Diego Pantoja (Valdemoro 1571 – Macao 1618) era un gesuita e missionario portoghese in Cina, noto per aver accompagnato Matteo Ricci a Pechino, dove Diego avrebbe lavorato come astronomo, geografo e musicista. Nel 1617 fu processato come nemico degli astronomi cinesi (aveva apportato alcune correzioni al calendario) ed espulso dalla Cina. Published before in Spanish, this long letter, here in its first Italian edition, is valued as remarkable not only about early contacts between Christian Europe and China, but also about the relationship between Catholic religion and Muslim one: “This is a very early source written by Christian on Muslims in China proper. The almost non-judgmental treatment of Islam is particularly interesting, although it must be noted that the text was written befor the Jesuit-Muslim conflicts fo the later part of the 16th century, so it must be possible to assume that relations at this time were fairly amicable. [...] The descriptions of Muslim life in China are fairly extensive in comparison with other texts of the early 17th century although, like its counterparts, the text focuses more on other religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Judaism”. (Thomas Davies, John Chesworth, “Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History”, 2012, vol. 11, p. 294. Diego De Pantoja (1571-1618) was a portuguese jesuit and missionary in China, known for getting along Matteo Ricci to Beijing, where Diego was an astronomer, a geographer and a musician. He purpoused some changes to Chinese calendar, and in 1617 was prosecuted and banished from China.
