“The criterion for selecting written sources was my thought to provide various texts, as much as possible with direct relevance (primary sources), that is, products of the historical moment, a decree, a letter, an inscription, a judicial act, a poem, etc., so that the young person forms a correct idea of the variety of sources and the difficulties that arise in their use and understanding.

I do not choose selected pages from various sources, but from texts that have historical interest and provide the opportunity for the student to be initiated into historical science and to discuss various issues related to it.

The texts are numbered (in order until the end for practical reasons) and then I provide the headline of each, to immediately orient the reader. Then I note the title of the book from which I have drawn the excerpt. After that, before presenting the text, I ensure to announce it in a few words, that is, to mention who wrote it, what period it refers to, and what its relatively small or great significance is.

Some of the elements come from recent research, either foreign or my own, and illuminate specific cases. With all this, one not only quickly gets oriented in the text and understands its historical value, but also becomes more eager to study it.” (...)

[Excerpt from the introduction of the edition]