Italija i Italijani po Jovanu Dučiću

The work intends to investigate the particular and deep bond of the diplomat with Italy through some of his prose, letters and diplomatic writings. Refined observer of different cultures and countries, qualities deriving undoubtedly from his experience as a diplomat, Dučić aims at researching and scanning the truthful traits and the spirit of Italian people, in a continuous confrontation with others, sometimes pursuing an excessive logical simplification that falls into stereotypes, but often grasping indeed its essence and true nature. The writer was fascinated by italian art and culture, well knowing the language, as evidenced by the numerous volumes of his personal library: his entire work is crossed by stories and quotations of some great artists and poets, Michelangelo, Macchiavelli, Petrarch, Dante, Leonardo, but also of Italian saints from which he draws anecdotes or exempla. Several missions and delicate assignments brought him three times in Italy between 1907 and 1937. Refined connoisseur of European realities, in his vision of Italy also emerges strongly his sensibility as a poet who never refrains from writing and disclosing his own personal views and judgment. His notes and observations on Italy, still current and vital today, endorse him to be a model ahead respect to his times and confirm his vocation as a cultured traveler always ready to seize the eternal spirit of a country.