“Ai popoli generosi dell'Albania e della Montagna Nera”: Antonio Baldacci e i Balcani

Abstract

etween the end of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, a botanist from Bologna, prof. Antonio Baldacci, dedicated his life to the exploration of the inaccessible mountain ranges of the Balkans. The accounts of his travels differ from contemporary models of strictly technical and scientific writings, as they reveal the author's empathy for those places and their people. This paper analyzes Baldacci’s writings related to his travels in Albania from two points of view: from that of travel literature and from that of ethnography, trying to rebuild on the one hand the cultural context in which the naturalist worked, and on the other the scientific and political results of his studies.