Petar Hektorović

Petar Hektorović
A statue of Petar Hektorović in front of Tvrdalj in Stari Grad
Born	1487 Hvar, Republic of Venice
Died	March 13, 1572 Hvar, Republic of Venice
Nationality	Croatian
Other names	Pietro Ettoreo Piero Hettoreo
Occupation(s)	poet and collector of Hvar's fishermen songs
Notable work	Fishing and Fishermen’s Talk

Petar Hektorović (1487 – March 13, 1572) was a Croatian writer.

Hektorović, also known as Pietro Ettoreo or Piero Hettoreo, was born and died in Stari Grad, Hvar. He was a poet and collector of Hvar's fishermen songs, and an important figure of the Renaissance period in Croatian literature, and he also wrote in Latin and in Italian, language in which he wrote his testament. His major work Fishing and Fishermen’s Talk (Ribanje i ribarsko prigovaranje, 1568), is a hybrid genre: simultaneously a travelogue, discourse in fishing, reflexive poem and poetic epistle to his friend Jeronim Bartučević. It is a treasure of Croatian maritime and zoological terminology, which has become incorporated in Croatian standard language. As hybrid as his major work, so was Hektorović's language: chiefly based on a local Čakavian dialect, but amalgamated with the idiom of Štokavian writing poets from Dubrovnik with whom Hektorović has remained in close contact during his lifetime.

Musical versions

The early music Ensemble Renaissance performs and has recorded a setting of his two songs as part of its "Journey through Dalmatia" program.