The Italian Historian and Diplomat Luigi Villari on Guria

Abstract

Among the foreign sources on Georgian history, a particularly valuable place is held by the work of the Italian historian and diplomat Luigi Villari (1876–1959), Fire and Sword in the Caucasus, first published in London in 1906. Notably, most of Villari’s works on different countries are based directly on his personal observations and experiences, which enhances the reliability and significance of the information they contain.
The merit of the aforementioned book lies precisely in this: Fire and Sword in the Caucasus represents a documentary account of Villari’s impressions during his travels in Georgia in 1905. The work is an especially valuable foreign source because it describes and characterizes numerous Georgian towns and regions.
In the present study, attention is focused specifically on the passages of Villari’s book that detail the events in Georgia during the revolutionary upheavals of 1905, with particular emphasis on developments in the Guria region.