From June 21 to 28, 2026, Assoc. Prof. Snježana Bralić, PhD, conducted corpus research during a study visit to Milan (Italy) at two key scientific institutions. The first was the Braidense National Library (Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense), one of Italy’s largest and most significant libraries located within the impressive Brera Palace (Palazzo di Brera). The second was the University Library (Biblioteca dell’Università degli Studi di Milano), with a focus on specialized departments for linguistics and philology within the Humanities Library (Biblioteca di Studi Umanistici).
The focus of the research was on collecting and classifying culture-specific lexicon representative of the Italian language in its various aspects. Within these institutions, lexicographical resources were consulted, with a particular emphasis on specialized dictionaries of idioms and cultural lexicon. The goal of this field research was to precisely define the meanings, usage, and cultural roots of specific expressions.
The gathered linguistic material was organized through conceptual grouping to serve as a practical tool for a deeper understanding of Italian culture in future work. Special attention was given to a representative Italian corpus to study the connotative value of words that reflect traditions, customs, beliefs, myths, and memories – key aspects that form a community’s cultural identity. Based on this Italian corpus, a contrastive analysis with the Croatian language will be conducted to observe cultural and connotative values, specifically regarding culture-specific lexicon, to provide better insight into patterns of intercultural understanding between speakers of both languages.
