Alessandro Grafini, Ambassador of Italy to the republic of Croatia
Five Stars Zagreb Issue 21 — June 01, 2007.

I got to know Zagreb for the first time in December 1991 as a member of a governmental delegation which was received by the late President Tuđman and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Šeparović.

Those were very delicate times, we were in the process of Italian recognition of Croatia  which ended at the beginning of 1992 with the international recognition of the Country.

On that occasion I had a working lunch with Minister Šeparović at Vila Weiss and i saw the Presidential palace, non immagining that in 12 years i would be presenting my credentials as Ambassador of Italy in that very place.

In 1991 the situation was dramatic. I was staying at the Intercontinental Hotel (now Westin) and I still remember bags of sand all around the hotel as antibullet protection. The town was clearly in a state of war.

Later, I returned to Zagreb several times as the Italian reppresentative for  the regional cooperation (mainly in the framework of CEI). Back then, I used to stay at the Palace Hotel and to dine at the Matoš restaurant with its wiew on  the Ban Jelačić square. I used to take frequent walks through Gornji grad, whose particular charme affected me right from the first time I saw it. Today, there are a lot of buildings restaurated in that part of the city, but they are mainly public buildings. Unfortunately, many private-owned houses are still in bad conditions. Howewer, it is a real pity that in Gornji grad, with its particular atmosphere, there are only a few restaurants, so that in the evening there is not much life in the streets.

In Italy, on the other hand, there are a lot of towns, Padova, for instance, with a great revival of the historic parts. People are returning to the ancient parts of towns and there are a lot of coffee shops and restaurants with porches or terraces. You have done something of the kind only in Tkalčićeva, which, by the way, is one of my favourite parts of Zagreb. You could certainly say that Zagreb offers more or less as much as other medium-large towns in Western Europe. There are a lot of interesting exibitions, excellent cinemas and a musical life of a very good quality. However, as a fan of the opera, I can not help noticing that the programme of the HNK offers a rather small number of premieres and that the performances are very often repeted. Furthermore, the mise-en-scene are sometimes rather modest.

When I have time, I generally go to theatre and even more to the movies. During weekends I always go to the Golf & Country Club, which in my opinion is one of the most brilliant initiatives undertaken in Zagreb in the last years, due, among other things, to the vicinity of the Club to the city center and to the excellent organisation of the club house. There I have found a very friendly atmosphere.

I also frequently visit restaurants and whenever there is an opening of a new restaurant I seldom fail to try the quality of its food and vine. In this respect,there is somthing I do not approve of: the fact that almost all the restaurants and all the theatres in Zagreb are closed on Sundays, so that the city life on Sunday evening becomes rather boring. Getting back to the restaurants, I must say that they have an excellent offer of food and wines. I especially like Croatian white wines, but the prices on restaurants wine lists are too high (2 or 3 times the prices at shops).

What I also appreciate of Zagreb is that it is a very safe and secure city, very well protected from minor criminality during the day as well as during the night. Furthermore, in all pubblic institutions, among Police officers and in all the shops a very correct English is spoken, and very often even Italian.

After almost 4 years, I shall keep a very pleasant memory of Zagreb, thanks also to the splendid position of my Residence, which dominates all the green areas surrounding the city center.