The Zibaldone

The commonplace book of Florentine Italy

Page from the Codex Rucstici, a zibaldone by Florentine goldsmith, Marco di Bartolomeo Rustici, as found on Wikimedia Commons. It details Marco’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in a combination of text and watercolor sketches.

Though it sounds like an unusual kind of pasta, a zibaldone is what is known as a “commonplace book,” or diary of hodgepodge, ubiqui…