Features A diplomat between two countries Arnolds Spekke as a cultural link between Italy and Latvia

This article highlights some of Spekke’s activities during his proxy as head of the Latvian legation in Italy during the Soviet period, and immediately after re-independence when he was dividing his time between Italy and the United States.

Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2024:3 pages 17-21
Published on balticworlds.com on September 18, 2024

In June 2023, while I was perusing some archive materials at the Latvian State Historical Archive (Lat. Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs, hereafter LVVA) in order to complete a monograph, I discovered an interesting folder titled Storia della Lettonia [which translates into History of Latvia: An Outline], the contents of which were authored by Arnolds Spekke.  On first impression, I was not very surprised because I knew that Spekke — historian, diplomat and translator — was fluent in Italian. It then came to my mind that the Italian version of this book had never been published. Indeed, until now, the only versions that had existed are in English and Latvian. To alleviate any doubt, I contacted my friend and colleague from University of Pisa, Prof. Pietro Umberto Dini, to confirm that no other Italian version of this book existed. At length, I decided to publish Spekke’s monograph (forthcoming 2024/2025, published with Vocifuoriscena) as a history of Latvia written by a single author in the Italian language. This article highlights some of Spekke’s activities during his proxy as head of the Latvian legation in Italy during the Soviet period, and immediately after re-independence when he was dividing his time between Italy and the United States.

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Rosario Napolitano