Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Italy

History of relations

About 55 kilometers from Baku, in the area of Gobustan, on the large rock of the southeastern foot of the Beyukdash Mountain, an ancient-Latin inscription was discovered. The inscription has a great significance as a historical source. It testifies the stay of the Twelfth Lightning-struck Legion of the Romans in Gobustan during the administration of emperor Domitianus (81-96 AC). The stay of the Roman troops in Transcaucasia's territory is also testified by the written sources; the arrival of the Romans in Azerbaijan in 1 AC had not been known before the detection of this stone. The inscription says: "Under imperator Domitian, Caesar, Augustus Germanicus, Lucius Julius Maximus, Legio XII Fulminata". Historical sources explain that the Roman Empire and the ancient Azerbaijani state – the Caucasian Albania, had political, economic and cultural ties as two independent states.

In the Middle Ages many travelers from Italy visited Azerbaijan. Among them, the journey of Marco Polo should be particularly noted. Descriptions of Azerbaijani cities and the difficulties of the "Silk Road" were described by many travelers. In the XV century, Venetian traveler and diplomat Katerino Zeno was an ambassador for 2 years to the palace of Uzun Hasan, the ruler of Azerbaijani state Akgoyunlu. In the palace of Akgoyunlu, Katerino Zeno was replaced by Josafat Barbaro, who traveled the entire territory of Akgoyunlu, which was described in his book, printed in Venice in 1543.

Ambroggio Kontarini was also an ambassador to the state of Akgoyunlu and left descriptions about this land while on his journey, which were also printed in Venice. After the second-half of the XV century, the city-states of Italy realized the West-East transit trade through Azerbaijan, and their preparatory missions of diplomats and travelers in Azerbaijan gained great economic successes. In the XVI-XVIII centuries intensive diplomatic and economic connections were conceived between the state of Sefevids and the Venetian Republic. In 1549 in Rome, the work of Nasreddin Tusi called ‘Taglidi Eglidis – Statement of Euclid’, was translated to Latin.

In 1918-1920 Italy established diplomatic relations with the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and opened its consulate and military office in Baku. In that time official visits of the Azerbaijani delegation to Italy and Italian delegation to Azerbaijan were realized.

Since 1972 the friendly relations between Baku and Naples were established. In September 1972 the agreement for the establishment of the sisterhood between Baku and Naples was signed. In the framework of cooperation, both cities held different measures and meetings: the week of Azerbaijani culture in Naples (1976); second meeting of the USSR-Italian sister cities in Baku (1977); the days of Azerbaijan and Baku in Naples (1977), during which one of the streets of Naples was named Baku; the discussion of Azerbaijani poet Nabi Khazri’s book which was published in Italy and the concerts of the soloists of the Opera and Ballet Theater named after M. F. Akhundov in Naples (1979); the visit of vice-mayor of Naples to Baku (1981); the days of Naples in Baku (1982), during which one of the streets of Baku was named Naples; the days of Baku in Naples (1983); and the visit of the representatives of the Baku Municipality to Naples (1988).

Since the end of XIX and the beginning of the XX century, different buildings by famous Italian architectures were built in Baku. There are different paintings of well-known Italian painters in museums of Azerbaijan, and a lot of carpets and jewelry articles made in Azerbaijan are in different museums and private collections in Italy. The works of Dante and Petrarki were translated into Azerbaijani and were published in mass edition. The Azerbaijani singers such as Shovkat Mammadova, Byul-Byul and Muslim Magomayev did a special course in the famous Milan theatre “La Scala”.