On Friday 16 April, the presentation of the volume “The ancient families of the Serenissima in Dalmatia” (Lega Nazionale, Trieste 2021) was held in live streaming on the Lega Nazionale Facebook page. The author, Dr. Valentina Petaros, Dr. Diego Redivo and the President of the Association, Avv. Paolo Sardos Albertini, participated.

http://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=489789935399361&ref=watch_permalink&t=0

In a new valuable work by Valentina Petaros, thanks to the contribution of the Lega Nazionale, we will see a survey of Dalmatian archives that the author has carried out, encountering many difficulties that would have discouraged any other Italian researcher because, as is well known, Italians do not stand out for their knowledge of foreign languages. Instead, Petaros, due to her education and biography, was able to easily overcome these difficulties, even if the archivists she turned to often encountered difficulties anyway, because even those who preserve such documents do not stand out for their knowledge of Latin and Italian, quite the opposite. Furthermore, some files were empty: compromising? Given that these documents concerned D'Annunzio, it is very likely. Faced with a research project that hypothesized a certain number of family archives, the progress of the work meant that the number unexpectedly almost doubled. The surveys in Zara, Sebenico, Spalato, Ragusa, Lesina, Curzola, Orebich have on the one hand confirmed the composite reality of the territory since the 13th century, when the archival examination of the Petaros began; on the other hand they have brought to light the existence of many families that have become extinct over the centuries. A sad fate, which can concern each of us, which without the passion and ability of researchers, as in this case, would make the earthly passage of many human beings (the majority, probably) seem as if it never existed, even though they acted, suffered and even rejoiced without this, evidently, having produced memory.

As mentioned at the beginning, Dalmatia has been a land of conflicts and upheavals to the point that part of the population (mainly of Italian culture) was forced to exodus (some speak of three separate exoduses during the 900th century). Many of these families stopped in Trieste and due to the distance from the events, a large part of the population of the Julian city is not aware of the origins of their current fellow citizens. Many, therefore, leafing through the pages of this work will discover the origins of many acquaintances. This is also what works like that of Petaros are for, who with her usual passion has faced this research, leading to new results and knowledge (which otherwise historical research would have no sense) that she now makes available to professional historians who, from now on, will no longer have excuses and will be able to face the history of Dalmatia with greater competence. But only if you read the books and published research, which, in all honesty, does not seem usual for the so-called professionals in the sector who instead seem to rest comfortably on more politically correct sources: and everything that Valentina Petaros has produced in recent years does not seem to fall into this category. However, the hope that sooner or later things will change always exists, otherwise none of us would continue our research work. Especially the author of this work who now adds an essential piece for a more correct historical reflection on Dalmatia and its ancient Venetian families.

To receive the book, write to info@leganazionale.it. The minimum donation is €20,00 (plus shipping costs).

 

Source: National League