Stanković Petar: Dello anfiteatro di Pola

Pietro Stancovich(Petar Stanković): Dello anfiteatro di Pola, dei gradi marmorei del medesimo, nuovi scavi e discovere e di alcune epigrafi e figuline inedite dell'Istria : con VIII tavole

The book contains all the graphics and a portrait of Peter Stanković

The book entitled Dello anfiteatro di Pola, dei gradi marmorei del medesimo, nuovi scavi e scoperte e di alcune epigrafi e figuline inedite dell'Istria (About the Pula amphitheater, about its marble steps, new excavations, sites, epigraphic monuments and new clay vessels in Istria) was written by Petar Stanković, canon of Barban and polyhistorian of Istria. Stanković was one of the most respected personalities in Istria from the end of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century. He published numerous works, which makes him considered the most prolific writer of that period. With very broad interests, Stanković was particularly interested in the history and past of Istria, which resulted in this book published by the publisher and printer Giuseppe Picotti from Venice. 

Petar Stanković / Pietro Stancovich, barban canon and polyhistorian of Istria, priest and writer, polemicist, owner of huge land and monetary assets, curious researcher, inventor of agricultural machinery, breeder of cattle, great bibliophile and collector of Istrian and other antiquities, member of various, predominantly Georgian European academies, is undoubtedly one of the most interesting Istrian personalities from the end of the 18th century and the first half 19th century. A supporter of physiocratic ideas, a typical representative of his time, his peculiar, almost novelistic, often controversial way of life attracted the attention of not only his own Istrian environment, but also some European intellectual circles, and even very distinguished individuals with whom he corresponded, and some from European metropolises came to visit him in the small Istrian town of Barban.

Born into the wealthy family of Barban entrepreneur Antun Stanković, Petar Stanković founded his received literacy in Croatian and Italian from a local priest. He received his higher education in Italian schools, which he attended in Rovinj, Padua and Vidmo (Udine). Although he graduated in theology in Padova, his interest also extended to the natural sciences: chemistry, astronomy, botany, physics, mathematics.

In 1795, after saying a young mass, he began his priestly work. As he became a priest because of his father's ambitions, he cared less about the souls in his parish and more about his material condition. He became a canon at the age of twenty-seven, but he worked in various fields; archaeology, linguistics, recorded folk customs, dealt with inventions, zoology, botany, music, and even architecture. Two of his inventions for processing olives earned him an international reputation as an inventor. He was a passionate book lover. He left his large library with over 4,000 volumes to the city of his youth - Rovinj, and it is kept in the Rovinj Local Museum under the name "Stancoviciana". A number of his published books and unpublished manuscripts and letters are kept in the University Library in Pula. During his lifetime, he published twenty-three books with about 3,000 pages, almost all in Italian.