The Prime Minister of Montenegro offers to place the building of the former Italian Legation in Cetinje at the disposal of Italy

As part of the Government Program “Cetinje - City of Culture 2010-2013”, which plans town revitalisation projects aiming to tap into the rich cultural heritage of the Old Royal Capital of Montenegro, today, this Saturday February 6, 2010, the Montenegrin Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Milo Đukanović, on a 24-hour official visit to Rome to meet with his Italian counterpart, H.E. Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, announced offering to place the building of the former Italian Legation to the Kingdom of Montenegro at the disposal of Italy and its diplomatic mission in the country.

Located outside the historic core of Cetinje, in the neighbourhood called Nova Varoš, the building, representative of the Italian Classicism with some Romanesque elements, is the result of a project dating from 1905 by Italian architect Corradini [1], started to be built during the course of 1909 and completed in 1910, the year of the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Montenegro (August 28). In use by Italy for the needs of its resident diplomats in the Kingdom until 1916 [2], it was subsequently owned by Mr. Risto Zuber, and afterwards housed a Lung Disease Sanatorium and a Teacher Training College. Since 1960, it has been one of the two sites — with the former French Legation in Cetinje — allocated to the Central National Library of Montenegro (Centralna Narodna Biblioteka Crne Gore), today’s called Central National Library “Đurđe Crnojević”, in order to host its collections and administration.

On the announcement by his Montenegrin counterpart, Prime Minister Berlusconi warmly thanked Montenegro, officially accepted the offer and declared it was “a very friendly gesture towards Italy,” adding that it is envisaged to install there, in a near future, an Italian language school and the country’s cultural centre, currently located in Podgorica, Hercegovačka 13.

The Kingdom of Italy officially established diplomatic relations with Montenegro, then a Principality, in mid-May 1879, appointing as Chargé d’Affaires, Mr. Cesare Durando, in post in Cetinje until 1883 [3], followed after him by a number of Ministers Resident [4] and Ministers Plenipotentiary [5]. The last Minister of Italy in residence in Cetinje was Baron Romano Avecana, who performed his duty in the Royal Capital until leaving for France where King Nikola I of Montenegro established his government-in-exile. The Kingdom of Italy broke its diplomatic relations with the Royal Government in 1922 — one of the last Great Powers to do so after the thorny issue of the disappearance of Montenegro as a Sovereign State in the course of and as a result of the First World War.

At the time of the Principality, and then of the Kingdom of Montenegro, Cetinje hosted up to eleven diplomatic representations: Russia, France, Serbia, Germany, United States of America, Greece, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Italy, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. They began to settle in the town after the Berlin Congress (1878), which formally and legally recognised the Sovereignty and the State of Montenegro. Most of these legations are still visible today — except the one of the United States which has been destroyed by the 1979’s earthquake — and they continue to occupy a great place in the architectural heritage of the Old Royal Capital of Montenegro.