“A Venetian in The Visayas: Antonio Pigafetta Maps The Islands”

Who is Pigafetta and what is his relevance to us today?” These were the first questions thrown to over a hundred participants who attended today’s lecture. After the recent fiesta celebrations that relate to our colonial history, today we revisited Antonio Pigafetta’s travel to the Visayas. Margarita Binamira of the Philippine Map Collectors Society took everyone back into the 16th century.

A native of Venice, Pigafetta traveled with Ferdinand Magellan by order of King Charles I of Spain – an expedition that later on contributed much to our colonial history. According to Marga, due to the lack of annals about the Cebuano pre-colonial way of life, Pigafetta’s chronicles gave us a description of how the natives lived — what they ate, how they dressed up, their rituals, etc.

We cannot help mentioning as well how Marga, being a history enthusiast and entrepreneur at the same time, got the inspiration of naming their restaurant into Zubuchon and Pigafetta (after the chronicler himself).16114527_1293306094064382_8293735371550467960_n
This lecture is organized by the Central Visayas Association of Museums in cooperation with PHIMCOS and the Cebu Provincial Government through Sugbu Turismo and Museo Sugbo. The
PHIMCOS exhibit in Museo Sugbo will be displayed until the end of this month. (Museo Sugbo)

SOURCE: www.cebu.gov.ph