The presentation of the book Azbučnik večnog grada (transl. Alphabet of the Eternal City) by journalist, writer, and member of the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS), Mila Mihajlović, took place today at the Geca Kon bookshop in Knez Mihailova Street in Belgrade, in front of numerous lovers of literature, culture, and Italian heritage. 
The event was attended by the director and editor-in-chief of the publishing house Službeni glasnik, Mladen Šarčević, while the book was discussed by Professor Darko Tanasković, Professor Milivoje Pavlović, and the author herself.
Mila Mihajlović, a historian, communications expert, artist, journalist, and translator, was educated in Zrenjanin and later in Rome, where she studied singing at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory, specialising in solo singing. She obtained her master’s degree in Belgrade at the Faculty of Music Arts, and completed her doctorate with the highest marks on the topic “The Cultural Memory of Serbs in Trieste”, under the supervision of Professor Milivoje Pavlović. She is a member of the Association of Writers of Serbia (UKS), UNS, and the Historical Section of the Serbian Medical Society. She is the author of more than ten books, some of which have been translated into foreign languages. She has been working at RAI, the Italian public broadcaster, for thirty years. She is also the founder of the Association of Serbs in Rome, established in 2016.
Speaking about the book, Professor Darko Tanasković, a distinguished orientalist philologist, Islamic studies scholar, and diplomat, assessed that Azbučnik večnog grada is a work that can be read both as a guidebook and as an essayistic reflection on Rome. He emphasised that the book can be valuable both for those who wish to discover the city for the first time and for those who have already visited it but want to rediscover it through a deeper historical and cultural perspective.
Tanasković highlighted that the essays in the book are permeated with knowledge, reflection, and an evident love for the city, in which facts and personal experience merge into a coherent narrative. As he stated, “the lexicographical key of the book is love”, and knowledge combined with love represents the surest way of understanding the cultural layers of a city such as Rome. He also emphasised the multilayered connection between Serbs and Rome, recalling symbolic traces of Serbian culture in the Italian capital, including the monument to Petar II Petrović-Njegoš in Villa Borghese Park.
Professor Milivoje Pavlović, the author’s mentor during the preparation of her doctoral thesis “The Cultural Memory of Serbs in Trieste”, assessed that her scientific and cultural contribution, especially from abroad, is of great importance. He stressed that Mihajlović builds constant bridges between Serbian and Italian cultural heritage through her work, and that her research contributes to a better understanding of historical ties and cultural memory.
Pavlović also recalled the author’s earlier works, including the book Povest Srba na Apeninskom poluostrvu (transl. The History of Serbs on the Apennine Peninsula), considered a pioneering contribution to the study of Serbian history in that part of Europe.
At the end of the presentation, the author addressed those present, thanking them for their attendance and support:
“I thank you for your trust and for coming here at the busiest time of the day. I thank Professor Tanasković for, through his presence and words, confirming the value and beauty of this book. I thank Professor Pavlović, who believed in this book even before it was written, who had the initial idea for it and who encouraged me to take on this great challenge. Because it is a challenge to write about a city about which, over the centuries, the most beautiful words, poems, and verses have been written. Rome is not just a city and a capital – Rome is the city of cities, the city from which one of the greatest civilisations of all time was born, to whose creation, development, and duration Serbs and Serbian culture also contributed.”
“This book is not a simple guide to Rome, nor a simplified history of a metropolis. It is a story of people, events, streets, monuments, palaces, verses, and legends. It is the bond between our people and this ancient city, which is not only a city – it is the Urbs, the city of cities, Caput mundi, the centre of the world, just as our Belgrade is the centre of spirituality, which has also helped make Rome… Rome,” the author concluded.
The book is also available for purchase online at the following link: https://www.slglasnik.com/e-prodavnica/proizvod/azbucnik-vecnog-grada-1-izdanje/229612 .