“Narod poeta, umjetnika, heroja, svetaca, mislilaca, znanstvenika, putnika i transmigranata”
“The Nation of Poets, Artists, Heroes, Saints, Thinkers, Scientists, Travelers and Transmigrants”

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with the strength of culture (more specifically of art and language) in spreading political influence on the example of the relations between Fascist Italy and Romania in the period between the two world wars. Due to a comparable lack of political and economic power, Italy spread its influence into the East making use of its far-reaching system of cultural diplomacy. In order to realize its political-cultural program, it resorted to the civilizational discourse of the superiority of the Italian civilization, a descendant of the tradition of the Roman Empire. This was not at odds with the Romanian national idea, because the Romanians built their international image on the Roman-Romanian continuity. The paper presents some examples of actions taken by the Italian cultural diplomacy and their wish to dominate the countries of the Southeastern Europe in the Balkans, more specifically, Romania.

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