The writings of Domenico Sestini (b. Florence 1750, d. Florence 1832) offer themselves to verification by the historian. While occasionally referring to the European works that he has read, Sestini is of special interest as his accounts record events and relationships that we do not find in other European travelogues. In reporting on his overland travels from Istanbul to Basra in 1781-82, Sestini has described a rebellion in the northern Anatolian town of S?vas, in which both Muslims and Armenians participated. Rebellions against the representatives of absent provincial governors (mütesellims) were frequent at that time, usually concerning taxes that locals considered abusive. Sestini and his fellow travelers found themselves in the middle of such an uprising, and the author expressed some sympathy for the rebels, although he narrowly escaped from a building to which the opponents of the mütesellim had set fire. By contrast, the uprising does not seem to have left many traces in the Ottoman archives. However, in 2008 a Turkish historian has analyzed a significant amount of archival documentation on the S?vas rebellion of Kenan-zâde Ahmed and Mütevelli-zâde Mahmud, which took place in 1818, when Mahmud II was stabilizing his still fragile control over Ottoman provinces dominated by notables and magnates. A comparison between the two sources, one narrative and written by a foreigner and the other Ottoman and archival, reveals many similarities between Sestini’s account and that of Sultan Mahmud’s officials. This fact is a testimony to the ‘generic’ character of these uprisings, which resulted from the structure of provincial financial administration. However, these similarities document Sestini’s capacity for observation as well.