The pilgrim travelled from Piacenza via
Constantinople and
Cyprus to
Tripolis. From there, he travelled south via
Beirut and
Tyrus before turning towards Galilea where he visited
Nazareth and
Capernaum before going through
Samaria towards the
Jordan River where he visited at
Epiphany the alleged site where
Jesus was
baptised. He then proceeded towards
Jerusalem, where his descriptions of the
chalice of onyx that was venerated in the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and of the
Holy Lance in the Basilica of
Mount Zion are early attestations of the
cultus of these two relics. He then travelled towards the coast and passed through
Gaza, where he mentioned the tomb of
Hilarion and took then the road towards the
Mount Sinai. The pilgrim also brought back many objects he had collected from the holy places, a feature typical of visiting pilgrims. However, the pilgrim seems to have been very enthusiastic about them. These objects included medicinal herbs, earth, oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and stones. The pilgrim's itinerary documents the extent of the sixth-century trade catering to the pious pilgrims in the
Holy Land: "We went to
Cana, where our Lord was present at
the marriage feast," the Piacenza Pilgrim reports, "and we reclined on the very couch." Inspired by such a vivid figuration of Biblical truth, Antoninus indulged the classic tourists' act: "and there, unworthy as I was, I wrote the names of my parents". A block of marble found at
Elateia, inscribed in Byzantine Greek, "This stone is from Cana in Galilee, where Our Lord Jesus Christ turned the water into wine" and the further inscription, "Antoninus", was identified with the Piacenzan when the block was moved to the
Little Metropolis near the
Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. Although he covered in his travels nearly the same extensive territory as the
Egeria of Hispania, his work contains but few details not found in other writers. It is also marred by gross errors and fabulous tales betraying the most naive credulity. ==Importance==