The Diuersarum nationum habitus by Pietro Bertelli is a collection of over a hundred engravings about how the people of the world dressed, with particular emphasis on Venice, its dominions and neighbours.

It was printed in three volumes, in numerous versions with different sets of prints, between 1589 and 1596.

While the introductions are in Italian, the title pages and the legends for the prints are in Latin.

The images reproduced on this site are from a copy in the National Library of Florence, with all three volumes bound together, from 1591, 1594, and 1596 respectively.

Pietro Bertelli

Not much is known about the person Pietro Bertelli.

He was from Padua, and he died in 1621.

He was active in Padua from around 1580 to 1616 as an engraver, and from 1589 to 1596 as a printer and publisher.

The dedication

The full title of the work is Diuersarum nationum habitus centum, et quattuor iconibus in aere incisis diligenter expressi item Ordines duo processionum. Vnus summi Pontificis, alter Sereniss. Principis Venetiarum opera Petri Bertellii. Ad ill.um d. Io. Reinhardum comitem ab Hanau et d. in Liechtemburg.

Translated, it reads: The attire of various nations, one hundred and four, carefully depicted in images engraved in copper, also two orders of processions. One of the Supreme Pontiff, the other of the Most Serene Prince of Venice, by the work of Pietro Bertelli. To the illustrious Lord Johann Reinhard, Count of Hanau and Lord of Liechtenburg.

Johann Reinhard I (1569–1625) was count of Hanau-Lichtenberg in northern Germany from 1599. He was in Italy on the Grand Tour, which must have been before his marriage in 1593.

Other versions, and the other volumes, have different dedications, most often to German aristocracy.

Gallery

• Nobilis patavina mulier in Italia — Married noblewoman from Padua (vol. 1)
• Cazza del torro — Running with bulls (vol. 2).
• Ludus quem Itali appellant il Calcio — The game which the Italians call calcio (vol. 3)