By the grant of Stephen Báthory, he administered Żupy krakowskie, amassed considerable landed wealth, and owned several tenements in Kraków, leading the local Italian colony.

He probably came to Poland[a] together with his older brother Traiano [pl][1] or later, at his urging,[5] in the early 1550s, when persecution of supporters of the Reformation was taking place in Piedmont, ordered by Duke Emmanuel Philibert.

[1] Therefore, it was necessary to organize a regular postal connection between Kraków and Venice, and the monarch appointed Provana as its postmaster, according to the privilege Ordinatio postae Cracovia Venetias praeficitur from 18 October 1558.

[12] The document provided that all costs (equipment, personnel, postal facilities, and stations along the route) were to be borne by the king, and the revenues from fees for private shipments were to be returned to the royal treasury.

[5] According to Jan Ptaśnik, the brief content of the privilege and the small amount of detailed information resulted from a lack of a clear concept of postal operations.

[13] The ultimate reason for revoking the privilege granted to Provana is said to have been his conflict with the Thurn-Taxis family, which controlled postal connections in Austria, Hungary, and Italy.

[12] However, in 1564, this did not prevent him from most likely instructing a well-known Kraków merchant, Pietro Maffon from Brescia (died 1575), as the new postmaster, who obtained a privilege entrusting him with this task for 5 years, with an annual salary of 1500 thalers.

Most likely, Maffon did not manage to organize the efficient functioning of the enterprise, and at the request of the monarch, even before the contract expired, he transferred the tasks to Sebastiano Montelupi (the latter received a privilege for this activity in November 1568).

According to a document from 23 November 1569, Provana, with the assistance of Venetian Antonio de Angelis and other Italian bankers and royal agents in Naples, was to mediate in the collection and transfer of interest from Neapolitan sums.

[1] In the 1560s, he became involved in efforts to obtain weapons in Venice for the army of John Zápolya, the ruler of the Principality of Transylvania, during his conflict with Emperor Maximilian II.

He often conducted business with the Venetian merchant Jakob Gastgebem,[d] as well as with Italians settled in Kraków, with whom he also had disputes (for example, in 1574 with Lodovikio de Pello and Alessandro Baldi).

[19] On a larger scale, he began to engage in salt mining and trading during the reign of Stephen Báthory, who was favorably disposed towards him, also thanks to the patronage of his friends – Stanisław Cikowski [pl] and Giorgio Biandrata.

In such a favorable situation, he was granted a lease of the Żupy krakowskie for a period of 3 years on 2 March 1577,[e] with the obligation to pay an annual sum of 56,000 Polish złotys (and settle the debts for salt supplies left by his predecessor, Hieronim Bużeński [pl]).

[19] Adolf Pawiński [pl], in his work Skarbowość w Polsce i jej dzieje za Stefana Batorego, states that the Italian's mismanagement led to a striking decline in salt mine revenues.

[19] Jerzy Wyrozumski [pl] also portrayed his activities positively, highlighting his evident entrepreneurship and efficiency, as well as his steps to combat illegal saltworks, which undermined the mine's income.

[27] In addition, he established saltworks in Stężyca Nadwieprzańska, in Będzin (together with the elder of the Kraków Jewish community, Joachim Ezdrasz),[j] and in Bydgoszcz (with Jakub Rokossowski [pl] and Szymon Ługowski, the prelate of Miechów).

[k] However, the profitable saltworks, which also absorbed significant investments, was eventually relocated to the not-too-distant Ujejsce in the Duchy of Siewierz, which enjoyed autonomy from the rest of the state, so the authority and influence of żupnik did not extend there.

This was due to Rokossowski's death, one of the partners, and Provana's resignation from the position of żupnik, which hindered the development of the saltworks, to which rock salt was to flow from Żupy krakowskie.

[21] Provana amassed a considerable landed estate in Lesser Poland, mainly through investing funds from trade and providing loans to the gentry against the pledge of villages, from which he derived income or took ownership.

[7] One of his largest debtors was Stanisław Szafraniec [pl] of Pieskowa Skała – shortly after 1560, he pledged the village of Rogów to Provana, but over the following years, the debt grew.

[o][38] Provana served as the patron and leader of the Italian community in Kraków,[14] mediating disputes, overseeing the execution of wills, and caring for orphans and their estates.

Being friends with Blandrata, Provana became a guardian of antitrinitarian supporters, hosting them in Krakow or Rogów – Gian Paolo Alciati (1561), Giovanni Valentin Gentile (1561?

[43] In 1581, the papal nuncio Giovanni Andrea Caligari [pl] made efforts to obtain the right to grant him absolution, but Provana hesitated, reportedly under the influence of his wife, a zealous Calvinist.

According to the account of the nuncio Alberto Bolognetti from 1583, frequent meetings on theological and other issues were held in his house,[5] and he was also respected among the "Italian heretics", who often visited him, maintaining correspondence with him as well.

[p] Eventually, he converted, which was confirmed in June 1584 by Antonio Possevino, reporting to Rome that Provana's withdrawal from his previous beliefs and his profession of the Catholic faith occurred in the presence of another Jesuit, Stanisław Warszewicki [pl].

The executors of his will – the Kraków żupnik Mikołaj Koryciński and his relative Gian Battista Cettis – erected a grand, mannerist tomb for him, made of sandstone and marble, with a sculpture of the deceased depicted in a Sansovinian pose.

It featured historical panoramas of Kraków and Venice from the modern era, as well as portraits of King Sigismund Augustus, Prospero Provana, and Sebastian Montelupi.