ABSTRACT
Born in Florence in 1474, Francesco Vettori's first relevant assignment was a mission to the Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg in 1507, where he was joined by Machiavelli in January 1508. Inspired by such mission, Vettori wrote his only literary work, the Viaggio in Alemagna. The Viaggio is a multifaceted text: its literary value and its place in the Italian Renaissance narrative tradition have been analyzed by many scholars. This chapter will instead look at this beautiful text from the point of view of a cultural history of diplomacy by focusing on Vettori's observations and ideas on diplomatic practice and on the debts the Viaggio owes with the diplomatic uses.
