Hristifor "Risto" Kovačić (

Risan Risan ( Montenegrin: Рисан, ) is a town in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It traces its origins to the ancient settlement of Rhizon, the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor. Lying in the innermost portion of the bay, the settlement was pro ...

, 22 May 1845 – Risan, 22 April 1909) was historian and teacher. Kovačić's most important writings were on Serbian antiquities. There is much that is striking and original in his history of Serbs in Italy (''Gli Slavi Serbi dell' Italia'', 1885). H

Biography

Kovačić was baptised Hristifor (hence "Risto") in

in the tradition of his ancestral Herzegovinian adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church. His patron saint was St. John the Baptist. After completing his high school education in Kotor, Dubrovnik and Zadar, he studied philosophy in Zagreb and Vienna. Upon graduation, he became a professor at a gymnasium in

Kotor Kotor ( Montenegrin Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian: ), is a coastal town in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative ...

and at a Serbian Naval School in

Herceg Novi Herceg Novi ( cyrl, Херцег Нови, ) is a coastal town in Montenegro located at the Western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of the Herceg Novi Municipality with around 33,000 ...

, from 1867 until 1871 and again from 1880 to 1881. In 1883 he moved to Rome where he taught

Slavistics Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

until the end of his life. He visited

Molise it, Molisano (man) it, Molisana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 ...

in 1884 and wrote a report to Serbian Learned Society about Serbian settlements. In his report, published in 1885, he emphasized that there were nine Serbian settlements of as many as 16,000 people. In three settlements about 4,000 people still spoke Serbian and kept tradition of badnjak as their legacy. The writings of both Risto Kovačić and

Graziadio Isaia Ascoli Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (; 16 July 1829 – 21 January 1907) was an Italian linguist. Life and work Ascoli was born in an Italian-speaking Jewish family in the multiethnic town of Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire (now in Italy). Alre ...

concur with writer Giovanni de Rubertis who considered the Schiavoni (Slavs) or Dalmati (Dalmatians) of Molise in Italy to be the Serbs that were brought there by

Skanderbeg , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

during his Italian expedition in 1460—1462 along with the Albanians who settled in Calabria. He was a member of Serbian Learned Society since 30 January 1883. He died at Risan on 22 April 1909.

References

* Biographical data was adapted and translated from the article on Serbian Wikipedia

External links

Biography on the website of SANU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacic, Risto 1845 births 1909 deaths Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts 19th-century Serbian historians People from Kotor Slavists

Biography

See also

References

External links