Giuseppe Sorio was born in Vicenza on 9 April 1663 to Lodovico Sorio and Maria Pace Pasini. He came from a Vicentine family described in the sources as «wealthy and cultured», a condition that afforded him a high-level education, the study of foreign languages, and the financial resources to undertake extensive and prolonged travels. He died in Venice in 1742, after a life dedicated to exploration and observation of the world.
Family background
The Sorio family enjoyed economic prosperity and a certain cultural prestige, although the surname does not appear in «Il Blasone Vicentino», the repertory of noble families of Vicenza. This absence may indicate that the Sorio, while not belonging to the titled nobility, occupied an elevated social position thanks to commercial or professional activities, or to land ownership. The Dizionario storico blasonico by Crollalanza (1888), however, classifies them as an «ancient and noble Venetian family from Vicenza», recording two official coats of arms.
The first European travels
Before his celebrated Eastern expeditions, Giuseppe undertook significant journeys across Europe: he visited Paris and London, where however he was imprisoned on charges of being pro-French. He was released in 1702 after the death of William III, thanks to the intervention of the Venetian ambassador. He subsequently visited the Netherlands, at the time a commercial and intellectual crossroads of Europe.
The Grand Journey to the East (1705–1709)
On 17 September 1705, Sorio sailed from Venice aboard the warship San Lorenzo Giustiniano (escorted by the Aurora), in the retinue of the extraordinary ambassador Carlo Ruzzini, bound for Constantinople. His journey took him to extraordinary destinations:
| Period | Destination | Notable events |
|---|---|---|
| 1705 | Sebenico (Šibenik) | First Adriatic stop |
| 1705 | Troy | Passage during a plague epidemic |
| 1705–1706 | Constantinople | Extended stay, observations on Ottoman society |
| 1706 | Jerusalem, Judea | Pilgrimage to the Holy Land |
| 1706 | Acre, Nazareth, Tripoli | Journey through the Levant |
| 1706–1707 | Alexandria, Rosetta, Cairo | Exploration of Egypt and the pyramids |
| 1707–1709 | Malta → Messina → Syracuse → Palermo → Naples → Rome → Florence → Bologna | Long return journey through Italy |
| 14 April 1709 | Venice | Final return |
His retinue included a dragoman (interpreter), a janissary (bodyguard), a coachman, and a valet: the typical entourage of an elite eighteenth-century traveller.
In Constantinople: an observer without prejudice
Sorio’s observations on the Ottoman capital reveal a remarkably open and analytical mind. He consciously chose to report only what he had personally witnessed, avoiding the repetition of other authors’ «fables». Comparing Hagia Sophia with St Peter’s in Rome, he refused to «decide between the two tastes», demonstrating a rare aesthetic relativism.
He analysed Ottoman architecture without imposing European standards: Turkish houses, he noted, might appear «ridiculous if on the Brenta», but were «comfortable and well-structured» if one entered «into the taste of the nation without seeking our own architecture».
The most significant detail: he never used the epithet “barbarians” when referring to the Turks, explicitly distancing himself from the European prejudices of his time. He affirmed that «one must strip oneself and examine without partiality of one’s own taste whoever wishes to know the good in the customs of others» — a declaration of cultural relativism extraordinary for the era.
In Egypt: the pyramids and the mummies
In 1707, in Egypt, Sorio undertook the direct examination of a mummy, having himself lowered into a mastaba — one of the first documented Italians to physically explore the interiors of Egyptian tombs. He visited the «plain of the mummies», probably in the area of Dahshur. Despite the «tedium» of the operation and the derision of the local population, his desire for direct empirical investigation prevailed over every discomfort.
The Eastern garment
Among his «eccentricities», Sorio had a garment made for himself «in this Eastern manner», an act of temporary immersion in a foreign culture that places him «on the perspective line leading to the Age of Enlightenment».
Methodology: the “prototype of the Enlightenment traveller”
Sorio’s travels were animated by an «honest curiosity», which he considered the gateway to knowledge. He has been defined as a «prototype of the Enlightenment traveller», embodying the growing emphasis on reason, empirical observation, and direct experience. For him, travelling was a «physical necessity».
His methodological principles anticipate the modern ethnographic approach:
- First-hand testimony: reporting only what was personally observed
- Suspension of judgement: «stripping oneself of one’s own taste» to understand the other
- Awareness of one’s own cultural conditioning: «if the uncouth barbarism that we suppose in the Turks did not cloud our discernment»
Writings and publications
Sorio’s works were published posthumously, as typical Venetian «wedding prints» — a distinctive editorial genre of the period:
| Work | Composition | Publication | Dedicatee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description of Constantinople | c. 1705–1707 | Vicenza, 1854 | Gaetano Chiericati |
| Journey from Constantinople to Jerusalem | 1706 (from Nazareth) | Vicenza, 1863 | Gaetano Chiericati |
| Visit to the Holy Places | c. 1706 | Vicenza, 1863 | Gaetano Chiericati |
| Description of the city of Alexandria in Egypt | c. 1707 | Vicenza, 1864 | Gaetano Chiericati |
| Letter from Egypt | c. 1707 | Rovigo, 1864 | Gaetano Chiericati |
| Journey from Alexandria to Rosetta | c. 1707 | Rovigo, 1865 | Gaetano Chiericati |
The recipient of his letters, Gaetano Chiericati, belonged to one of the most illustrious houses of Vicenza, indicating that Sorio moved in cultivated and influential circles.
In 1881, A. Capparozzo edited a biographical booklet — G. S. viaggiatore vicentino (Vicenza, published for the Malveni-Piovene wedding) — containing three unpublished letter-reports with plates of drawings of the pyramids. The study by S. Saccone (1996) in the Miscellanea di Storia delle esplorazioni (XXI, pp. 241–252) further examined his «unpublished accounts».
Venetian circle and final years
Having returned to Venice on 14 April 1709, Sorio settled there permanently, frequenting personalities such as Carlo Ruzzini, Tommaso Carrer, and above all Giovanni Checozzi. He died in Venice in 1742, at the age of 79.
Descendants
The available sources provide no information regarding any siblings, spouse, or direct children of Giuseppe. The family was rooted in Vicenza and the surname persists in the Veneto area throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, although the reconstruction of direct genealogical connections remains an open field of research.
Principal sources: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Treccani); S. Saccone, «I Viaggi d’Oriente di Giuseppe Sorio» in Miscellanea di Storia delle esplorazioni, XXI, 1996; A. Capparozzo, G. S. viaggiatore vicentino, Vicenza, 1881.