After several years of consulting the old documents and chronicles and the traditions of the region. He published in 1803, his ""Notizie Istorico-Critiche Sulla Antichita, Storia, e Letteratura de' Ragusei"" (published in two vols.) which is dedicated to the senate. It is considered by some to be his best work on the "Republic of Ragusa" which was for centuries like an advanced post of civilisation and which maintained its independence against the neighbouring Slavs, Ottomans and the Republic of Venice. Its flag was respected all over the Mediterranean, and the Republic preserved the regions traditions and cultivated the arts of Europe. It was situated on a narrow strip of land in Southern Dalmatia, now in modern Croatia. Its disappearance from the list of independent states was hardly noticed in the midst of the revolutionary events which had swept away most of the old republics of Europe.