SlovenEs in Italy

Irena Milanič, Trieste

The autochthonous community of Slovenes in Italy lives in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, mostly in the areas around Trieste (in Slovene, Trst), Gorizia (Gorica) and Udine (Videm). The number of Slovenes there ranges from 60.000 to 100.000, though no official estimate of the number of Slovene-speakers is available.

While the Slovenes of the Udine area became part of the Italian state in 1869, the rest of them continued to live in the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its dissolution in 1918.

After the First World War, Italy acquired these territories and the Slovenes suffered the pressure of denationalization. It was particularly hard during the fascist era: Slovene organizations, schools, associations and institutions were dissolved, the use of Slovene in public was banned, Slovene surnames were changed into Italian names and so on. Several thousands of Slovenes emigrated overseas and to neighboring Yugoslavia.

After the Second World War, part of the Slovene ethnographic territory went to the Yugoslav republic of Slovenia, while another part – home to today’s Slovene ethnic minority – remained under Italian rule. By signing the London Memorandum (1954) and the Treaty of Osimo (1975), Italy recognized specific minority rights for the Slovenes living in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, though it denied the existence of the Slovene ethnic minority in the Udine region. There are still many problems associated with the use of Slovene in public administration and in public life, and there were decades of efforts to pass the Law on the Protection of the Slovene Minority which finally was passed in the Italian parliament in February 2001.

The Slovene ethnic community has managed to develop various political, economic, cultural, sports, and other social activities. Politically, it is organized into two central organizations: the progressive Slovenska kulturna gospodarska zveza (Slovene Cultural Economic Union) and the conservative Svet slovenskih organizacij (Council of Slovene Organizations). It has established a number of cultural institutions, such as the Slovensko stalno gledališče (Slovene Permanent Theatre), and scientific institutions, such as for example the Slovenski raziskovalni inštitut (Slovene Research Institute) and the Narodna in študijska knjižnica (Slovene Library). Press activity is represented by a number of weekly and monthly papers and a daily newspaper, Primorski dnevnik. There is a daily short television program broadcasted by the public television company, but it is seen only in the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia. The public radio service broadcasts about 12 hours per day in Slovene. In terms of party affiliation, part of the Slovenes operate within their own Catholic-oriented party Slovenska skupnost (Slovene Community), while the rest of them successfully participate in Italian (especially leftist) political parties.

As far as education is concerned, the Slovenes in the Trieste and Gorizia regions have their own public Slovene schools (primary and secondary), while the Slovenes living in the Udine region have only private schools which the above-mentioned law is about to convert into public.

Though the Slovenes soon recognized that the European Union could offer an opportunity to achieve a greater recognition, only recently have they started to apply for European funds with organized projects. As a matter of fact, an organization uniting Slovene firms and businessmen in Italy at the Slovensko deželno gospodarsko združenje (Slovene regional economic association), has organized an Office for Europe since 2001 that is specifically dealing with intra-regional projects mainly between Italy and Slovenia but also other countries. The office provides technical assistance in the internationalization of firms and in searching for international partners. It deals with the planning, elaboration and presentation of projects aimed at EU funding programs such as Interreg, Phare CBC, Leader, Enlargement, etc.

The Slovene youth association MOSP together with the youth section of the political party Slovenska skupnost collaborates with the international organization YEN composed of 26 youth minority organizations from all over Europe. The organization is active in organizing exchanges between individuals of different minorities and international seminars. The members actively participate at seminars organized by other minority groups.

The Slovene community in Italy expects that Slovenia’s recent membership in the European Union will bring an improvement. On May 5, 2004 a delegation visited the European parliament in Straussburg and handed to the representatives of Slovenia in the EU a declaration. Among other things it is exposed that the Slovene community in Italy expects the first European constitution will guarantee the rights of European minorities and valorize the linguistic richness of Europe. Moreover the document emphasizes the positive effects of the Slovene language becoming one of the official languages of the European Union. Thus the Slovenes that live in Italy, Austria and Hungary will have the right to use it with the European institutions.