"Poles in Florence: Travellers and residents", the first issue of a series of studies devoted to Central-Eastern Europe’s encounter with Florence, will be officially presented next 15th June in Palazzo Vecchio, at the presence of the town authorities and some of the outstanding experts of Polish Culture in Italy; they are intended as a basis and encouragement to further research but also as a useful guide to an unusual and unexplored dimension of Florentine life. Each volume includes an essay dealing with important stages in the development of contact between the two cultures, an essential bibliography, a map of the city inviting an exploration of Florence following the impression of past visitors and original photographs and reproductions.
The choice of Polish visitors for the first volume was determined by an awareness of Poland’s arduous search for an objective assessment of its own rich culture. It is also aparent that among the multiple cultures combinino to cerate the cosmopolitan Florence beneath its more frequently apparent provincialism,

Polish culture has not been give the attention its importance deserves. This volume shows how from the Middle Ages to the present day, with the accumulated experience of diplomatic missions, of journeys of education, of exile the Poles interpretation of their travelling encounters was singularly critical. He also show how, when, removed to a different environment they looked more indulgently on their own people and on their homeland. This aspect of Polish consciousness is of particolar interest at a time when becoming part of a newly enlarged Europe might lead to change and the emergence of new cultural values.
The volume on the Poles is edited by Luca Bernardini, with photographs by Massimo Agus; the Editors are Fleming Youth and Nardini Editore; the patronage of the volume, and of the series as well, is by Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation and Gabinetto Scientifico Letterario G.P. Vieusseux.