Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian navigator born in Vicenza. He paid a large sum of money to accompany and assist the Portuguese captain Ferdinand Magellan and his Spanish crew on their trip around the world. He kept an accurate journal of the trip, which later assisted him in translating one of the Philippine languages, Cebuano. It is the first-ever document concerning this language.

Of some 260 men who set out with Magellan in 1519, Pigafetta was one of only 18 who returned to Spain in 1522, having completed the circumnavigation under the captainship of Juan Sebastián Elcano after Magellan's death.

His journal is the source for most of what we know about Elcano's voyage. More...