Slavia Friulana
Slavia Friulana, which means Friulian Slavia (
Extent
The term Slavia Friulana could possibly be used to refer to all Friulian territories with a Slavic presence, including the
.Name
Since the beginning of the 8th century AD (c. 720), Slavic people settled in this area and in the Middle Ages they would have been called Sclavons. In the early 16th century, the Venetian authorities dubbed this border region of their Republic as Schiavonia Veneta, meaning "Venetian Slav-land". The
In Slovene, the traditional term has been Beneška Slovenija, which is a literal translation of Schiavonia Veneta. Until the early 19th century, there was no distinction between the terms "Slav" and "Slovene" in Slovenian. However, from the times of Romantic nationalism onward, the term Slovenija, which had been sporadically used to denote lands inhabited by Slovenes/Slavs, took over a new meaning, denoting the idea of modern Slovenia. The old term Beneška Slovenija was thus assimilated to a new meaning, as its name now meant "Venetian Slovenia". As a more neutral colloquial term, the name Benečija came into usage, which however also means Veneto in Slovene.
After World War I, as soon as the Italian kingdom expanded its borders eastwards (including slavophone territories in Istria and in the so-called
History
Early periods
In the early 8th century Slavic tribes settled within the border of the
From the 9th century onward, the region belonged first to the
The Venetian domination
The Venetian authorities decided to absorb the "gastaldia di Antro" in the Cividale's one, but at the same time they gave the local Slavs a remarkable autonomy. In fact, the territory was structured in two co-valleys (Antro and Merso) represented by their people's assemblies called arenghi; each co-valley had also the right to elect its own judges and its own tribunals (banche) whose judiciary power extended to the villages that weren't the object of feudal investitures; the whole Schiavonia had important tax benefits and its only military duties were to provide 200 men for the border defense against the neighbouring Habsburg Empire and fortify the nearby city of Cividale and the fortress of Palmanova as well. The ancient and commercial road of the Natisone valley, which connected the German world to the Adriatic sea and Italy, lost its importance soon after the Habsburgs inherited the county of Gorizia (1500) and conquered the "gastaldia" of Tolmino (1516); the Austrians built another road passing along the border and this caused heavy economic damage to the whole area which became much poorer than it was before.
Napoleonic and Austrian rule
In 1797, most of the Venetian Republic was annexed to the
Under the Kingdom of Italy
Italian policy aimed to improve the quality of life, local economy, education: in the first 18 years, schools and roads were improved five times more than during the Austrian domination (which lasted 53 years). Italian remained the official language as it was in the previous centuries (under Venice, France and Austria). The local population were considered "Italians with a Slav origin"; the local traditions were respected and there was the need to teach a common language to be understood in the whole state. During this period, the region became a major focus of historians, linguists and ethnologists, interested in its archaic customs, language and common law. Scholars who wrote about Slavia Friulana included the Italo-Slavs
After 1870, when Italy conquered Rome, reducing the Pope's territories to the Vatican City, the Italo-Slavic priests (who had fought for the union with Italy in the preceding decades) started a hard political action against the new kingdom: for this reason they refused to consider themselves Italians but Slovenes. This trend became even more pronounced after the annexation of the Julian March to the Kingdom of Italy in 1920, when a large Slovene-speaking minority was included within the borders of the Italian state. The local politicians (both conservatives and progressives), instead, continued to support the Italian policy.
After a dozen years of the Fascist regime, all public and religious use of other languages were forbidden. This feature was further emphasized by the Slovene anti-fascist and nationalist propaganda (both left-wing and conservative-Catholic), which frequently portrayed the Slavia Friulana as the symbol of Slovene resistance to Fascist Italianization, often simplifying the complex linguistic and social realities of the region. The best-known literary portrayal of the area was written in 1938 by the Slovene writer France Bevk from Gorizia in his novel "The Vicar Martin Čedermac" (Kaplan Martin Čedermac).[1]
During
In early November 1943,
In February 1945, the
Italian Republic
In 1945, Slavia Friulana again became an integral part of Italy. It was included in the
In the following decades, the presence of a militarized border didn't allow an economic and infrastructural development and this situation caused a widespread
Population trends
Municipality Italian/Nediško |
1871 | 1881 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1936 | 1951 | 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1991 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drenchia/Dreka | 1036 | 1278 | 1389 | 1424 | 1562 | 1458 | 1285 | 1392 | 1128 | 599 | 359 | 255 |
(%) | 66.3 | 81.8 | 88.9 | 91.2 | 100 | 93.3 | 82.3 | 89.1 | 72.2 | 38.3 | 25.4 | 16.3 |
Grimacco/Garmak | 1324 | 1560 | 1570 | 1678 | 1780 | 1621 | 1543 | 1737 | 1645 | 929 | 760 | 591 |
(%) | 74.4 | 87.6 | 88.2 | 94.3 | 100 | 91.1 | 86.7 | 97.6 | 92.4 | 52.2 | 43 | 33.2 |
Pulfero/Podbuniesac | 3256 | 2492 | 3779 | 3991 | 4066 | 3864 | 3681 | 3735 | 3306 | 2237 | 1831 | 1307 |
(%) | 80.1 | 85.9 | 92.9 | 98.2 | 100 | 95.0 | 90.5 | 91.9 | 81.3 | 55 | 45.1 | 32.1 |
S. Leonardo/Svet Lienart | 2188 | 2382 | 2639 | 2623 | 2637 | 2424 | 2222 | 2283 | 2077 | 1375 | 1220 | 1128 |
(%) | 83 | 90.3 | 100 | 99.5 | 100 | 92.6 | 84.3 | 86.6 | 78.8 | 52.1 | 46.9 | 42.8 |
S.Pietro al N./Špietar | 2811 | 3182 | 3313 | 3525 | 3544 | 3039 | 3077 | 3088 | 2842 | 2331 | 2066 | 2173 |
(%) | 79.3 | 89.8 | 93.5 | 99.5 | 100 | 85.8 | 86.8 | 87.1 | 80.2 | 65.8 | 58.1 | 61.3 |
Savogna/Sauodnja | 1820 | 2017 | 2078 | 2026 | 2143 | 2044 | 1867 | 2077 | 1741 | 1226 | 1017 | 786 |
(%) | 84.9 | 94.1 | 97 | 94.5 | 100 | 95.40 | 87.1 | 96.9 | 81.2 | 57.2 | 48 | 36.7 |
Stregna/Srednje | 1616 | 1710 | 1805 | 20 00 | 1908 | 1908 | 1722 | 1883 | 1554 | 952 | 730 | 538 |
(%) | 84.7 | 89.6 | 94.6 | 104.8 | 100 | 100 | 90.3 | 98.7 | 81.4 | 49.9 | 38.3 | 28.1 |
Total | 14051 | 15621 | 16573 | 17267 | 17640 | 16358 | 15397 | 16195 | 14293 | 9649 | 8051 | 6869 |
(%) | 79.7 | 88.6 | 94 | 97.9 | 100 | 94.3 | 87.3 | 91.8 | 81 | 54.7 | 45.6 | 38.9 |
Italy (in millions) |
27.30 | 28.96 | 32.97 | 35.85 | 38.45 | 41.65 | 42.99 | 47.52 | 50.62 | 54.13 | 56.57 | 56.41 |
(%) | 71 | 75.3 | 85.7 | 93.2 | 100 | 108.3 | 111.8 | 123.6 | 131.7 | 140.8 | 147.1 | 146.7 |
Many of the villages lost more than two thirds of their populations, as Slavs from Friulian Slavia moved to larger urban areas in Northern Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany. In May and September 1976, two earthquakes hit Friuli, causing large scale damages.
After 1977
Although the area was largely depopulated after 1977, the political pressure was lifted after the Treaty of Osimo between Italy and Yugoslavia, but with no economic improvement. Anyway, Slovene cultural activities started to take place in the early 1980s. In the early 1990s, the first elementary and high school with Slovene as a language of instruction was established in San Pietro al Natisone, and in 2001, the Italian state recognized the local population as a Slovene minority living in the area, guaranteeing it full rights but ignoring the claims of those who consider themselves as non-Slovene. After Slovenia's entry into the European Union in 2004, the relations between the Slavia Friulana and the bordering Goriška region have intensified.
Language, culture and religion
Most people in Slavia Friulana (considering the whole slavophone area) speak four different Slovene dialects, named after the major valleys that form those territories: first of all the Natisone Valley dialect, the Torre Valley dialect, the Resian dialect and the Iudrio Valleys. The first three are closely related to each other and Resian, instead, has its own peculiar characteristics. On the other hand, the Slovene spoken in the province of Gorizia is part of the Littoral dialect group.
Almost all of the inhabitants are fluent in
The vast majority of the people belong to the
In the last decades some local politicians have been asking for a popular referendum concerning the self-ethnic definition of these people, but the project has never been possible to carry out because it has been boycotted by the most ideologized groups. The referendum itself has been recently demanded by the European Union and in the meanwhile the first scientific studies about local languages have finally been published for a transparent debate.
Slavia Friulana is known for its rich folk traditions. Numerous
Since the late 1980s, Slavia Friulana has also emerged as one of the major centres of high quality Slovene dialect poetry. The best-known poets from the region are Silvana Paletti, Francesco Bergnach and Marina Cernetig.
Since 1994, the artistic project Stazione di Topolò – Postaja Topolove or "Topolò Station" takes place every summer in the small village of Topolò (Slovene: Topolovo, known as Topolove or Topoluove in the local dialect). The project, which is the most important cultural and artistic event in the region, is an attempt to bring together contemporary visual art with and the local folk traditions.
Notable people from the region
- Carlo Podrecca, historian
- Francesco Musoni, ethnographer
- Anton Klodič Sabladoski, philologian, linguist and poet
- Aldo Specogna, Alpini Colonel, Silver Military Valour Medals
- Francesco Bergnach, Slovene dialect poet
- Edi Bucovaz, musician
- Marina Cernetig, Slovene dialect poet
- Friulianpolitician in Austria-Hungary
- Gianni Osgnach, sculptor
- Silvana Paletti, poet in the Resian dialect
- Graziano Podrecca, fotographer
- Stefano Podrecca, physician
- Pietro Podrecca, author
- Rudi Šimac, politician and author (from Breginj)
- Jožef Školč, politician (from Breginj), founder and first president of the Liberal Democratic Party
- Ivan Trinko, Roman Catholic prelate, translator and author
- Natalino Božo Zuanella, priest, historian and activist
- Pietro Fanna, professional soccer player
- Lorenzo Crisetig, professional footballer
- Roberto Chiacig, professional basket player
- Tedoldi Guerino-Vojmir, journalist
See also
Sources
- Carlo Podrecca, Slavia italiana, Cividale 1884
- Carlo Podrecca, Slavia italiana – Polemica, Cividale 1885
- Carlo Podrecca, Le vicinìe, Cividale 1887
- Bonessa et al., Slavia friulana, Cormons 2013; you can read the text here
- Marinelli et al., Guida delle Prealpi Giulie, Udine 1912
- Nino Špehonja, Nediška gramatika, Cormons 2012
- Nino Špehonja, Besednjak Nediško-Taljansko, Cormons 2012
- Nino Špehonja, Vocabolario Italiano-Nediško, Cormons 2012
- Giuseppe Jaculin, Gli Slavi del Natisone, Tavagnacco 1996
- Bogo Grafenauer, "The Autonomy of Venetian Slovenia" in Slovenci v Italiji po drugi svetovni vojni (Ljubljana, Koper, Trieste: Cankarjeva založba, Primorski tisk, Založništvo tržaškega tiska, 1975), 105–109.
- Svetozar Ilešič, "Beneška Slovenija" in Encyclopedia of Yugoslavia, ed. by Miroslav Krleža (Zagreb: Leksikografski zavod FNRJ, 1955–1971).
- Slovenska matica, 1899).
- Gaetano Salvemini, Racial minorities under fascism in Italy (Chicago : The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1934).
- Henrik Tuma, Avtonomna uprava Beneška Slovenije (Ljubljana: Slovenski pravnik, 1933).
- Sergij Vilfan, L'autonomia della Slavia Italiana nel periodo patriarcale e veneto (Trieste-San Pietro: Quaderni Nadiža, 1987).
- Fran Zwitter, The Venetian Slovenes (Ljubljana: Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1946).
- Tadej Koren, Beneška Slovenija po drugi svetovni vojni: fenomen paravojaških enot (Ljubljana: Univerza v Ljubljani, 2005).
- Branko Marušič, Primorski čas pretekli (Koper, Trieste, Nova Gorica: Lipa – Založništvo tržaškega tiska – Goriški muzej, 1985).
- Venezia, una republica ai confini (Mariano del Friuli: Edizioni della Laguna, 2004).
- Faustino Nazzi, Alle origini della "Gladio": la questione della lingua slovena nella vita religiosa della Slavia Friulana nel secondo dopoguerra (Udine: La Patrie dal Friûl, 1997).
- Natalino Zuanella, Gli anni bui della Slavia: attività delle organizzazioni segrete nel Friuli orientale (Cividale del Friuli: Società Cooperativa Editrice Dom, 1996).
References
- Italian Fascist regime. The novel became a best seller in Slovenia and the term Čedermac has been since used as a synonym for the clergy persecuted by the Fascists in the Italian-administered Julian Marchand in the Slavia Friulana.
- ^ "Alpski val". Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ Natalino Zuanella, Gli anni bui della Slavia : attività delle organizzazioni segrete nel Friuli orientale (Cividale del Friuli: Società Cooperativa Editrice Dom, 1996)
- Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts
External links
- Lintver – Slavia Friulana website (in Italian)
- Media related to Slavia Friulana at Wikimedia Commons