STIKI MED ALBERTOM FORTISOM IN SLOVANSKIM SVETOM OB VZHODNEM JADRANU.

Alberto Fortis (1741-1803), a prominent representative of the Italian Enlightenment, made several journeys to the Kvarner Gulf and Dalmatia. His Travels into Dalmatia made him famous in Europe and kindled an interest in this relatively unknown area. Besides travelling extensively to the Adriatic coastal regions, Fortis travelled from Trieste to Ljubljana across the Karst and recounted his journey in The Oryctographic Letter. Despite being one of his minor works, the letter is an important indication of the author's interest in Carniola, especially its Karst phenomena, and of his contacts with Balthasar Hacquet, a naturalist active in Carniola. Fortis' books were present in the extensive library belonging to Žiga Zois, a leading promoter of science in that period, and were probably available to his intellectual circle. Whilst Fortis' contacts with intellectuals living in Carniola are far from reaching the extent of his connections with Dalmatia, his exchanges with Hacquet, as well as the presence of his books indicate the existence of contacts between the Carniolan intellectual milieux and the Italian Enlightenment. On the basis of critical studies and printed sources consisting mostly of texts published by Fortis, the article highlights certain aspects of Fortis' travels and explorations as well as his contacts with representatives of the Carniolan Enlightenment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]