The beginning of Ugolini's exploration of Albania in the Antonio Baldacci archive (Bologna)

In November 2022 the Butrint Project team consulted the Antonio Baldacci archive stored in the Archiginnasio Library in Bologna. 

As botanist and geographer, Antonio Baldacci mainly focused is academic research at the end of the 19th century on the flora of the southern Balkan, with a particular interest toward Montenegro and Albania. While his political and institutional role on the international picture was growing, he became a reference point for all those who were interested in Albania for his deep knowledge of this country. In fact, he was also appointed as Honorary General-Consul of Albania in Bologna between 1931 and 1939. 

Antonio Baldacci was the first person that Luigi Maria Ugolini got in touch with when he received the direction of the first Italian Archaeological Mission in Albania asking for advices and suggestions on how to approach this territory still unknown to him, both scientifically and politically-wise. The Antonio Baldacci archive gives an interesting insight into the very beginning of the Italian archaeological project in Albania and its development over the years thanks to continued correspondence first between Baldacci and Ugolini and later with his successors in the leadership of the Mission.