Alberto Fortis (1741–1803) was a

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

writer, naturalist and cartographer.

Life

His real name was Giovanni Battista Fortis (his religious name was ''Alberto'') and he was born in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of t ...

on either 9 or 11 of November 1741. He journeyed extensively in Venetian Dalmatia. His best known work is '' Viaggio in Dalmazia'' ("Journey to Dalmatia"), originally published in 1774 and first published in London in 1778. The highlight of the book is the description of Morlachia, a historical region currently located in Croatia named after the

Morlachs Morlachs ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Morlaci, Морлаци or , ; it, Morlacchi; ro, Morlaci) has been an exonym used for a rural Christian community in Herzegovina, Lika and the Dalmatian Hinterland. The term was initially used for a bilingual Vlach past ...

that inhabited the region. In his book, Fortis presented his literary discovery "Hasanaginica" as a Morlach (Vlach) ballad. Larry Wolf believed Fortis wrote the ballad as a poetry of South Slavs rather than a poetry of the Morlachs. Fortis believed that the

preserved their old customs and clothes. Their ethnographic traits were traditional clothings, use of the gusle musical instrument accompanied with epic singing. He also published several specimens of Morlach songs. Morlachs were speaking a language close to Romanian but they were Slavicized and finally many of them Islamized, under Turkish occupation. Fortis noted that Morlachs called themselves "Vlachs". Alberto Fortis's account of the Morlachs, translated into French, English and German brought the

to the attention of Europe. This started a new literary movement known as Morlachism. The Croatian writer

Ivan Lovrić Ivan Lovrić (also ''Giovanni Lovrich''; c. 1756 in Sinj – 1777 in Sinj) was a Croatian writer, ethnographer, and medical student from the Republic of Venice, best known for his work ''Observations on 'Travels in Dalmatia' of Abbot Alberto ...

, who wrote ''Osservazioni di Giovanni Lovrich sopra diversi pezzi del viaggio in Dalmazia del signor abbot Alberto Fortis coll'aggiunta della vita di Soçivizça'' ("Observations of Giovanni Lovrich van Lovrićon several pieces of the journey to Dalmatia of Mr. Abbot Alberto Fortis with the addition of the life of Soçivizça"), accused Fortis of many factual errors, which he attempted to rectify. ''Travels into Dalmatia'' played an important role in bringing the Dalmatian culture to the attention of Europe during the rise of

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

notions about folklore. Dalmatian hinterlands became epitomized by ''

Hasanaginica ''Hasanaginica'', also ''Asanaginica'', (first published as ''The Mourning Song of the Noble Wife of the Hasan Aga'') is a South Slavic folk ballad, created during the period of 1646–49, in the region of Imotski, which at the time was a part ...

'', a folk ballad that was first written down by Fortis. In 1795 Fortis was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

in London. He died in Bologna eight years later on 21 October 1803.

Works

* *

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortis, Alberto 1741 births 1803 deaths Writers from Padua Fellows of the Royal Society 18th-century Venetian writers Italian naturalists 18th-century naturalists 19th-century naturalists History of Dalmatia Venetian period in the history of Croatia 18th-century cartographers