Dissemination event in Istria: Enchanted Adriatic - book presentation

Region of Istria organised dissemination event in form of book presentation on 26th of August 2026 at the premises of Italian Community Centre in Pula where SOCRAT illustrated book for children and adults “Enchanted Adriatic” was presented to the media, tourists, local community and project stakeholders. More than 70 participants joined presentation and book signing and talk with the author, making this event highly recognised and publicly visible contributing strongly to SOCRAT dissemination and promotion.

Book presentation contributed significantly to the visibility and promotion of the SOCRAT project, since it was, by book lovers and media representatives, highly anticipated presentation of the new illustrated book of the most nationally and internationally awarded Croatian storyteller and illustrator Zdenko Bašić. SOCRAT publication “Enchanted Adriatic” presents the exploration of the world of folklore encompassing Istria, Dalmatia, the islands, and the Adriatic coast, as well as Venice and South Italy, though the journey is not merely geographical. The protagonist and narrator, Valvasor, boards the sailing ship “Noordung” and "sails" across timelines and the waters - both inland and marine - of the Adriatic coast. His goal is to find the unknown master of the water element. On this journey, real-world locations serve as starting points for encounters with much older layers of the landscape: Slavic gods, fairies, “štrige” (witches), “krsnici” (healers/protectors), “maliki” (household spirits), the “ork” (sea monster), mythical forces of sea and wind, and customs in which traces of ancient beliefs persisted long after the arrival of Christianity. For this reason, “Enchanted Adriatic” is neither a classic collection of legends nor a guide to mythology - it as an illustrated fictional travelogue that captures ancient folk traditions and myths of the Adriatic in a new visual form.

In the book's foreword, Dr. Deniver Vukelić identifies precisely this as its distinctive quality: “Zdenko Bašić’s Enchanted Adriatic opens a space of encounter between myth, history and the visual imagination. Drawing upon the Slavic – and more precisely Croatian – mythological heritage, as well as upon the layered history of the Croatian Adriatic coast, this book offers far more than a sequence of tales from times long past. Instead, it shapes an entire world in which gods, fairies, štrige, krsnici and other mythical beings, together with seas, winds, hillforts, islands and coastal landscapes, are interwoven with Croatian cultural memory. Bašić’s distinctive artistic language, formed at the intersection of illustration, animation, scenography and storytelling, is particularly suited to such a subject. His images do not merely accompany the text as ornamentation; they expand it, interpret it and draw the reader into the atmosphere of forgotten lore. Richly illustrated with the author’s own works, the book seeks to bring older layers of belief closer to the contemporary reader and to reveal how mythology, folk tradition and the history of the Adriatic may still remain living sources of identity, imagination and cultural heritage today.”