Dante Alighieri was in Croatia and his guide was Bishop Augustin Kazotic. This is the basic idea of Ivan Lerotic’s book, Dante’s path through Croatia, which was premiered on Monday night in the European Hall in Zagreb (October, 2001). Ivan Pandzic, a writer and Nada Skrlin, a painter, who also exhibited a portrait of the two friends for the event, introduced the book in the author’s presence.

That the poet and author of the “Divine Comedy,” Dante Alighieri was in fact in Croatia, seems to be all the clearer after 670 years, thanks to the research of Ivan Lerotic, who sheds new light on a meeting which was held in Rome and the lasting friendship which was played out in front of Christ’s image between Dante and Croatian Bishop Augustin Kazotic.

Based on Dante’s trilogies, “Hell” “Purgatory,” and “Heaven,” we can make a map of Dante’s travels through Croatian cities: Zagreb, and crossing the Sava River in a boat, traveling through Bosnia, arrival to Dubrovnik, Split, Korcula, Trogir, Zadar, the island of Rab, and in the end, as presented by Lerotic, Dante’s arrival to Jurandvor on the island of Krk which ends the journey through Hell and Purgatory and in which Dante fulfills three votive promises.

The promise to a Croatian pilgrim, now a friend and guide through Croatia, Bishop Kazotic, and would see the Baska Tablet. He would also shun material desires and his political exile from Firenze, his birthplace, and with that would finish his pilgrimage and promise at the shrine of St. Lucy, the patron saint of vision in Jurandvor on the island of Krk in Croatia.

Lerotic states that Dante places Croatians in a special place in his poems, and he even mentioned stecaks. These are all major discoveries for us, because of well-known statements that Dante was a Latinocentric and never left his birth country of Italy.

During his entire trip through Croatia, he did not encounter any problems, even though he slept in kazunis (1), which can be linguistically supported. The speakers concluded that Blessed Augustin Kazotic, from an old noble family and a man of higher education, a skilled diplomat, and well versed in Croatia’s history was Dante’s guide through Croatia. Only with these characteristics would Bishop Kazotic get Dante Aligheri’s attention. Ivan Lerotic self-published his book.

Written by Sead Begovic (source Vjesnik – in Croatian)

Translated from Croatian by generosity of Marko Puljic (Chicago, USA)

It is evident that Dante spent a part of his life in Croatia, where his great-grandson Nicolo Alighieri was a pharmacist in Zagreb in 1399. Our family house in Kamenita (= Stony) street on the Upper town in Zagreb, and at the corner, neighbouring our house, is the oldest pharmacy in Zagreb (founded in 1395) with a plaque which mentions the family of Alighieri and its presence in Croatia.

Greetings,

Marija Miletic Dail (translated from Croatian by D.Z.)

Hrvatska verzija:

Dante Alighieri bio je u Hrvatskoj

Dante Alighieri bio je u Hrvatskoj i vodič mu je bio biskup Augustin Kažotić. To je osnovna postavka knjige »Danteove staze po Hrvatskoj« Ivana Lerotića, koja je predstavljena u ponedjeljak na večer u Europskom domu u Zagrebu.

Knjigu su u nazočnosti autora predstavili književnik Ivan Pandžić i akademska slikarica Nada Škrlin, koja je na predstavljanju izložila za tu zgodu izrađen zajednički portret dvaju prijatelja.

Da je pjesnik i autor »Božanstvene komedije« Dante Alighieri uistinu bio u Hrvatskoj čini se da je to posve jasno tek poslije 670 godina zahvaljujući istraživanju Ivana Lerotića, koje baca posve novo svjetlo na susret koji se zbio u Rimu i trajno prijateljstvo koje se odigralo pred likom Krista na Veronikinu rupcu između Dantea i hrvatskoga biskupa Augustina Kažotića.

»U naše doba mogla bi se na temelju Danteove trilogije ‘Pakao’, ‘Čistilište’ i ‘Raj’« napraviti čak i zemljovid putovanja po hrvatskim gradovima: Zagrebu i putovanju čamcima Savom, prijelaz preko Bosne i dolazak u Dubrovnik, Split, Korčulu Trogir, Zadar, otok Rab te na kraju«, ustvrdio je na predstavljanju Lerotić, dolaskom u Jurandvor na otoku Krku, završava se putovanje paklom i čistilištem, te su se Danteu ispunile tri želje zavjeta.

Obećanje Hrvatu, hodočasniku, a sada prijatelju i vodiču po Hrvatskoj biskupu Kažotiću da će za posjeta Hrvatskoj vidjeti Bašćansku ploču. Zatim da će se skloniti od materijalnih nevolja i političkih progonitelja iz rodne Firence, te da će izvršiti hodočasnički zavjet svetištu sv. Lucije, zaštitnice vida, u Jurandvoru na otoku Krku u Hrvatskoj.

Lerotić je ustvrdio da Dante stavlja Hrvate na počasno mjesto u svojim pjevanjima, a spominjao je i stećke. Sve su to velika otkriće za nas jer su poznate tvrdnje da je Dante bio latinocentrik i da nije izlazio iz Italije. Na cijelom putu kroz Hrvatsku nije imao problema, iako je spavao po »kažunima«, što se može jezično dokazati.

Predstavljači su zaključili da je blaženi Augustin Kažotić bio Danteov vodič kroz Hrvatsku kao stariji plemić, čovjek većeg znanja i s velikim iskustvom u diplomaciji, zatim poznavatelj hrvatske povijesti. Samo je s tim karakteristikama mogao zadobiti pozornost Dantea Alighierija. Ivan Lerotić je knjigu izdao u vlastitoj nakladi.

Sead Begović (izvornik Vjesnik)

Dante je sigurno proveo dobar dio svog života u Hrvatskoj, gdje je njegov praunuk Nicolo Alighieri imao apoteku u Zagrebu godine 1399. Naša obiteljska kuća je u Kamenitoj ulici u Gornjem Gradu, a na uglu, do naše kuće je najstarija apoteka u Zagrebu (osnovana 1395.) sa pločom, koja dokumentira obitelj Alighieri i njihovo djelovanje u Hrvatskoj.