Summer is the season of great Mediterranean festivals in Italy, where the experience of organizing folk events can be beneficial for designing and enriching the Montenegrin tourist product. This is claimed by Danijela Djurdjevic, born in Bar, who has been living and working in the Apennines for nearly two decades. She is the founder and president of the Italian-Montenegrin Friendship Association "Italy-Montenegro Regina Elena", and has recently been given a great honor at the feast in Perugia, a town where she lives with her family. In the colorful and playful manifestation of the "Perugia 1416" event, Danijela was the first Montenegrin and the only foreigner this year who was invited to be one of 400 participants in the costume parade.
Through the promenade in Perugia's center that was filled with thousands and thousands of tourists from all sides, she wandered in a gorgeous Renaissance costume that weighed roughly 25 kilograms and is worth over three thousand euros.
"The jealousy of Italians preserve their tradition, so I truly feel a great honor that the organizers have invited me to be part of this spectacle, even though I come from another country, behind which this year is the chairman of the organizing committee Teresa Severini and the patron Mayor of Perugia Andrea Romizi," she said.
The three-day feast is an important part of Italy's extremely significant historical period, a transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, and authentically it represents the historical figures of that era, such as Bracio Fortebraci di Montone, and besides the parade of costumes from that period, includes the performances of musicians, archery competitions, traditional cuisine. Every detail was given a great deal of attention because they were all judged by the strict members of the expert commission," Djurdjevic said.
As a sign of friendship towards Montenegro and respect for Queen Jelena Savoy, who is still loved by the Italians as Regina Elena, the organizers gave to Danijela, as the president of the Association, the role of one of the four honorable ladies of the four most respected families who founded Perugia, the Kornia family.
"Every other participant in the parade had their historical role in commemorating the event of 600 years ago. This historical event that describes and preserves the identity and history of a nation is only one of those kinds in Italy and far-known, such as Palio di Siena, Ceri di Gubio. From them, Montenegro can learn to valorize what we have, and we had a king, princesses of which two were married to European sovereigns, we have gorgeous costumes, traditional cuisine, influence from all sides. In addition to the existing ones, Montenegro could pay attention to the development of the new events that would be very beautiful and through the popular approach to history, very appealing to tourists."
Text by Radomir Petric, on June 24th, 2019, read more at Vijesti
