The Comentario de le cose de' Turchi (modern Italian: , 'Commentary on the matters of the Turks') is a short treatise written by Paolo Giovio and first published in 1532 in Rome. The work is addressed to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and was published at a time when the campaigns of Suleiman the Magnificent were threatening Europe.
Peter Madsen considers the Comentario to have been probably the âÂÂmost important among the writings that analyzed the Ottoman military strengthâ at that time. Giovo also aimed to explain the rise of the Ottoman Empire in his treatise, as stated in his introductory letter to Charles V,
Within a decade, the work was translated into Latin by Francesco Negri, and Negri's translation was in turn translated into German by Justus Jonas. Another Latin translation was provided by the Hungarian archbishop Antonius Verantius, who later also travelled to Constantinople as diplomat for Ferdinand I. of Hapsburg thus gaining his own impression of the Ottomans. Giovo's treatise was "widely read" in Europe.