ABSTRACT
Taking Alberto Fortis’s traveling impressions of Dalmatia, published in 1774, as a point of departure, the author traces a broad historical itinerary along and across the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, reflecting about Venetian politics, market strategies, ever-lasting tensions between the powers of the West and the Ottoman Empire, and the movement of millions of emigrants who generated, and in many ways perfected, the unique art of importing/exporting artistic products and ideas. The rich bibliographical apparatus, an essential part of this essay, provides research tools necessary for in-depth studies of a new field of inquiry: geo-musicology, a term coined by Franco Alberto Gallo in 2002 to identify a musical geography complementary to the traditional history of music. The author concludes his essay with a heartfelt homage to Predrag Matvejević, the influential Mediterranean scholar who passed away early in 2017.
