Dalegio d’Alessio

Dalegio d’Alessio (Eugène) (born October 7, 1888, in Istanbul – date of death unknown) was an Italian researcher of noble Venetian descent.

He received his education in Istanbul. At the age of twenty, he was already publishing historical studies in the well-known Istanbul newspaper La Turquie. He also worked in the field of archaeology. In 1918, when the Georgian diplomatic mission arrived in Istanbul, he met its members and began working as a secretary. He later held the same position at the Georgian consulate. Deeply interested in Georgia, he traveled through the country, learned the Georgian language, and familiarized himself with Georgian society, its culture, and way of life. After returning to Istanbul, he began collecting information about Georgians who had emigrated there afterwards.

He wrote a book in French titled The Georgians in Constantinople, published in Istanbul in 1921.

This work describes Georgian-Byzantine relations, provides statistics on the Georgian population in the Ottoman Empire, describes their political and economic situation, their language and customs, and also includes descriptions of Georgian settlements in Istanbul, cemeteries, the Georgian quarter in Feriköy, and more.

Literary works: ქართველები კონსტანტინოპოლში და სპარსეთში, თბ., 1990.

Ts. Kipiani