1336
The bare limestone summit of Mont Ventoux in Provence.Image: culture · Europe
Petrarch climbs Mont Ventoux for the view
On 26 April 1336, by his own account, the Italian poet Petrarch climbed Mont Ventoux in Provence with his brother and two servants, simply to see the view from the top. He described the ascent in a famous letter to his former confessor, later collected among his Familiar Letters. At the summit he opened his copy of Saint Augustine’s Confessions and read a passage rebuking people who marvel at mountains but neglect their own souls. Scholars doubt some details of the letter, which may have been written years later, but it is often seen as an early sign of the Renaissance outlook.
Source: Hanover College History Department: Petrarch, The Ascent of Mount Ventoux (text) ↗
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