Yugoslav discovery of its own Mediterraneaness was the result of several factors – global politics manifest in Yugoslav engagement in the Non-Aligned Movement, economic benefit from foreign tourism and the development of the Adriatic as the centre of Yugoslav entertainment. The new socialist government had to find a balance between the Yugoslavization of three main cultural spheres – Central European, Balkan, and Mediterranean – and multi(national) culturality symbolized in the ideological postulate of “brotherhood and unity”. In the building of a specific Yugoslav culture, the spread of mass media and consumerism played an important role and enabled shaping Yugoslav popular culture. Two things were crucial: the introduction of self-management and opening to the Western countries. The first caused the liberalization of the cultural sphere and the “democratization” of culture, while openness to the West contributed to the further internationalization and commercialization of culture. In a country that had just started developing its entertainment industry, the Italian example not only filled a gap in the everyday needs of Yugoslav citizens, but it also shaped their taste, and expectations from domestic production. Three case studies – popular music, television entertainment, and fashion and lifestyles – demonstrate the Yugoslav Mediterranean was built upon direct Italian influence, ideological work on the creation of a specific Yugoslav culture, a collective imaginary of the Adriatic as a shared space among all Yugoslav people, and the promotion of Yugoslavia as a tourist destination. Finally, the development of domestic and foreign tourism at the Adriatic had not only an economic purpose, but also played an important soft-power role in disseminating information on everyday life under the Yugoslav socialist experiment. The international dimension of Yugoslav tourism thus created a platform for the promotion of the country and the Yugoslav good life abroad, with happy and satisfied tourists returning home with images of the sunny and light-hearted Mediterranean