Trav- Els of Alberto Fortis Through Croatia A

102 Dubrovnik Annals 3 (1999) Æarko MuljaËiÊ, Putovanja Alberta Fortisa three occasions. Among all the scholars in- po Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji (1765-1791) (Trav- vestigating Fortis’s travels through Croatian els of Alberto Fortis through Croatia and lands, Æarko MuljaËiÊ, linguist and distin- Slovenia). Split: Knjiæevni krug, 1996, 190 guished expert in the Romance languages, pp. has approached this subject most thoroughly and systematically. MuljaËiÊ’s longtime commitment to Fortis—over fifty years—has Alberto Fortis (1741-1803), Italian sci- resulted in about fifty studies in four lan- entist, writer and polyhistor, owes his popu- guages. He focuses upon the period of the larity throughout Europe to his passionate Enlightenment, with an emphasis on the Ital- advocacy of the new ideas of the eighteenth ian impact on Dubrovnik, the exponents of century. This enthusiastic traveller rambled the Enlightenment in Dubrovnik, and their across Europe from Switzerland to Greece. relations with the like-minded Italians. Pub- As a young man Fortis joined the Augustin- lishing Fortis’s correspondence with the in- ian order. After this he studied theology, but tellectuals from the eastern Adriatic coast, the natural sciences, journalism, and litera- MuljaËiÊ has brought to light valuable docu- ture occupied most of his attention. By the ments offering an array of research interests: end of 1760s he withdrew from the order so from the social history to the history of wom- as to become an abbot although he had no en’s writing. Putovanja Alberta Fortisa po clerical ambitions. He subsequently pursued Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji (1765-1791) is certainly the natural sciences, notably geology. MuljaËiÊ’s crowning work on Fortis. Fortis’s renown lay in his book Viaggio The contents and aim of this MuljaËiÊ’s in Dalmazia, which was published in many monograph is to establish a scientific recon- editions, the first being in Venice in 1774. struction of Fortis’s travels to Dubrovnik, The most recent edition, printed also in Ven- Dalmatia, Hrvatsko primorje, Istria, and ice in 1987, includes an extensive foreword some parts of Slovenia. by Gilberto Pizzamigli covering the life and work of Alberto Fortis. Luca Ciancio has The book’s brief introduction deals with lately published a book about Fortis the ge- MuljaËiÊ’s principal concern with Fortis. He ologist: Autopsie della Terra: Illuminismo e stresses that he envisages this interesting his- geologia in Alberto Fortis (Firenze, 1995). torical figure primarily as an advocate of the Fortis also wrote about Croatian lands in his new and righteous social relations within the Saggio di Osservazioni sopra l’isola di Venetian Republic and the Croatian lands, Cherso ed Ossero (Venezia, 1771). The life which at that time were under Venetian rule. and work of Fortis have been studied by a Fortis’s works themselves did not prove suf- number of Croatian scholars from his con- ficient for such an extensive survey, hence temporary Ivan LovriÊ (Osservazioni di MuljaËiÊ took upon himself the impressive Giovanni Lovrich sopra diversi pezzi del task of examining thousands of documents Viaggio in Dalmazia del signor Abate from almost seventy scientific institutions, Alberto Fortis..., 1776) to today’s historians. archives and libraries. The most valuable The reason why Fortis has attracted so much documents were, beyond every doubt, For- attention from Croatian scholars is most cer- tis’s private letters dating from 1760 until tainly his visits to the Croatian coast and is- his death, which he dispatched to numerous lands. He visited Dubrovnik on as many as friends and colleagues, and which illustrate Dubrovnik Annals 3 (1999) 103 his scientific and literary work, reading in- structs Fortis’s travels in 1771, a year in terests, and travels. Thus, MuljaËiÊ’s study which he sailed across the Adriatic four “Per un inventario del carteggio di Alberto times. His voyage to Istria and Dalmatia has Fortis” published in the journal Nuncius. to do with the sojourn of Fortis’s patron, Annali di storia della scienza 5/1 (1990): pp. Anglican bishop and geologist F.A. Hervey, 127-203 is indispensable to specialists and in the same regions. MuljaËiÊ provides a to future research on Fortis. most sensitive appraisal of Fortis as a gifted MuljaËiÊ’s introductory notes interpret researcher who was hampered by various the historical background of Fortis’s day, pri- problems: restrictions set by the order he be- marily the world within the borders of the longed to, his general health, and markedly Venetian Republic with both its exterior and his lack of financial means. As he puts it, interior political climate. If one looks upon Fortis was ever torn “between his desires and the region in terms of the present-day bor- onerously accomplished goals.” ders of the Republic of Croatia and the Re- Fortis’s longest journey was through public of Slovenia, Fortis journeyed across southern Croatia and lasted seven months. these two countries at least twelve times. MuljaËiÊ has constructed Fortis’s itinerary MuljaËiÊ discusses these travels in twelve through the littoral and hinterland parts of chapters of his book, each of which is pro- Dalmatia. Fortis’s journey had to serve as vided with relevant documents. the basis of a thorough description of the In 1765 young Fortis visited Pula and region consisting of exhaustive information journeyed along the Kvarner coast all the about its geographical features, antiquities, way to the river Raπa, where he carried out political order, and culture. The scholarly some interesting scientific and archeologi- circles of the time as well as Fortis’s patrons cal investigations. Upon his return to Rome, looked forward to reading these travel ac- Fortis made the acquaintance of the Stay counts. brothers—Benedikt and Kristofor—as well MuljaËiÊ sets Fortis’s fourth journey to as Rajmund KuniÊ, all of who introduced him Dalmatia in the middle of 1773. He visited to the work of Ruer BoπkoviÊ. Rab, and on this occasion he worked out an The destination of his second journey in accurate topographical map of the island. His 1770 was the islands of Cres and Loπinj, fifth trip to Dalmatia lasted from July to which Fortis found most interesting because November 1774, shortly after the publish- of their mineralogical and paleontological ing of his book Viaggio in Dalmazia. treasures. This trip was counted to two Brit- A period of personal crisis (1775-1778) ish scholars, the Earl of Bute and John was followed by another series of travels, Symonds, who later became a professor of which MuljaËiÊ claims started in 1779, when history at Cambridge. MuljaËiÊ emphasizes Fortis sailed across the Adriatic to Split. that this journey opened new roads for For- Fortis’s reputation was reaching lofty heights tis’s research. In addition to the natural sci- thanks to the French, German, and English ences, he found peculiar interest in the Croat translations of his Viaggio, all of which con- population, language, and folklore, alongside tributed to the improvement of his financial their hard life under Venetian rule. status. He was now in a position to travel to In the fourth chapter MuljaËiÊ recon- places that were of his interest and his alone. 104 Dubrovnik Annals 3 (1999) The Republic of Dubrovnik, as MuljaËiÊ tist, and active participant in public life, pri- points out, Fortis chose as his destination marily as a benevolent informer about the point on three occasions. His stay in 1783 situation in the Croatian lands and its friendly was the longest. He visited the peninsula of people: the man who inaugurated Croato- Peljeπac and showed great interest for Italian cultural relations. Dubrovnik’s past and the geological struc- MuljaËiÊ’s book reveals a most percep- ture of the soil. He spent most of his hours at tive scientific skill, providing a myriad of the Bassegli family country estate in Æupa references and data that are indispensable to dubrovaËka, and at a location near Trpanj the research of the eighteenth century and on the Peljeπac peninsula. While travelling especially the Enlightenment period in to Boka, he passed through Konavle, too. Croatia. It does not, however, burden the Fortis found dear friends and companions in reader. Most of all, he provides the general the members of the Bassegli family reader with a pleasant reading experience (Jakobica, the family head, his wife Kate, thanks to its clarity, use of associations, and their son Tomo, and their learned daughter witty remarks. Deπa), Miho Sorgo (SorkoËeviÊ), his mother Jelena, Marija Giorgi Bona, and others. MuljaËiÊ portrays Fortis as an engaged scientist, naturalist, and a man who lived MuljaËiÊ dates Fortis’s last trip to the amidst suffering and hardship, struggling to Croatian lands sometime in 1791. It could make his own contributions to the advance- be described as a chance visit to four remote ment of humanity. Fortis’s admiration for the locations in Dalmatia, and later to PoreË. men and lands he passed through, explored, Why Fortis failed to visit Dubrovnik, by far and came to love, his attitude towards the his most endearing destination, MuljaËiÊ as- popular and the national, and his open- cribes to private and not political reasons. minded and restless spirit were strewn with MuljaËiÊ also examines Fortis’s private the sentiment of the oncoming Romantic relations with the Croatian, especially stream that was to flow across Europe. Fur- Ragusan, milieu. He most frequently ex- thermore, this book, alongside MuljaËiÊ’s changed letters with Julije Bajamonti, Miho many earlier works is a valuable contribu- Sorgo, and two ladies—Marija Giorgi Bona, tion and stimulus for the historiography of and Deπa Bassegli Gozze—whom he sup- Dubrovnik. plied with books. In return, they kept him Already a longtime member of the emi- informed of Dubrovnik’s state of affairs with nent Accademia della Crusca, established in regard to the new initiatives of French for- 1573 and famed for its care for language eign policy, as MuljaËiÊ explains.

Load more