(ANSA) - ROME - ''Hobevalge, on the route of wind, fire and the Last Thule'' is the title of one of the most important texts written by Lennart Meri, intellectual, historian filmmaker and former President of Estonia, which is published in Italian by Gangemi. The book will be presented tomorrow in Rome on the occasion of the first day of the Festival of Travel Writing (until September 25) hosted by the Italian Geographic Society headquarters at Villa Celimontana. In Hobvalge, the former head of the Estonian State (1929-2006) presents an original solution to an enigma that has fascinates scholars for two thousand years: where is the mythical island of Thule?. ''Hobvalge - the author explains - is based on geographical sources mainly derived from ancient navigators and reveals the secret of the legendary Thule''. Thule is the name given by the Greeks and Latins to the furthest land ever in the north, which they believed could be reached after a six-day trip from Britain. According to Lennart Meri, the name Thule may come from the Balto-Finnish word 'tuli', meaning fire, or even from an old traditional Estonian folk song, which tells of the origin of the Kaali Lake crater in Saaremaa. Translated (by Daniele Monticelli) for the first time in a foreign language, the book is part of a project led by Lennart Meri Estonia Foundation and Italy-Estonia Association, 40 years after its first publication (1976), in Estonia, under Soviet rule, and 25 years after the three Baltic republics gained independence. (ANSA).