Serbi in Italia Срби у Италији Srbi u Italiji | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Total population | |
| 29,679 (2024)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Veneto,Friuli-Venezia Giulia,Lombardia | |
| Languages | |
| Serbian andItalian | |
| Religion | |
| Eastern Orthodoxy (Serbian Orthodox Church) |
| Part of a series on |
| Serbs |
|---|
 |
Native Titular nation
|
Related nations OtherSouth Slavs |
Serbs in Italy areItalian citizens ofSerb ethnic descent orSerbia-born people who reside inItaly. According to data from 2024, there were 29,679 Serbia-born people in Italy.[1]
The history of Serbs in Italy is intertwinned with the city ofTrieste.
At the start of the 18th century, Serb merchants, mostly fromSarajevo,Trebinje, and theBay of Kotor, established a community in Trieste, which as afree port, served as the Austrian Empire's outlet to the world.[2] The most influential of the wealthy Serbian merchants of the time were[3] theGopčević,Kvekić,Kurtović,Vojnović, Vučetić, Popović, Teodorović, Nikolić, Škuljević, Opujić, Rajović, Mekša, Kovačević, and Miletić families, who owned most of the structures and dock area of thePorto Vecchio (lit. 'Old Port').[4] In 1766, Triestine Serbs numbered 50; by 1780, the number had grown to 200.[5]
In 1751, Austrian EmpressMaria Theresa proclaimed religious freedom in the city, and the Serbs and Greeks of Trieste built theSaint Spyridon Church that same year.[6] In 1782, theSerbian Orthodox andGreek Orthodox communities of Trieste split due to major disagreements concerning church rituals and language-usage, at which point the Greek community built its ownGreek Orthodox Church of San Nicolò dei Greci in theneoclassical style, and the Serbs continued to use the original church ofSaint Spyridon. But in 1861, the Serb community demolished the original church, and rebuilt a new, much more grandiose one in its stead, inSerbo-Byzantine Revival style, in order to "stamp their identity architecturally in the midst of a baroque Austro-Italian city".[7][irrelevant citation] The church's construction was completed seven years later, in 1868. With the added capacity for 1,600 worshippers, it was for a long time the second-largest Serbian Orthodox church in the world.[citation needed] The church is filled with liturgical masterpieces of the time—including works in gold from the 17th and 18th centuries, and antique Orthodox icons and handmade books—making it an important monument to Serbian history and culture.[6] In the 1800s, the Serbian population in Trieste numbered around 200 people.[8]
In 1782, the Serbian community of Trieste expressed its desire for aSerbian-language day school, a place for their children to be passed down Serbian culture and language. Jovan Miletić, a wealthy Serb merchant, donated 24,000 florins to build a Serbian elementary school in 1787. In 1792, the local government approved its opening, and the Jovan Miletić Private School began operation, located in the downtown, right beside the Saint Spyridon Church. A night school and reading room were opened in 1911.[4] In 1911, anasylum was added to the school, for Serbian political refugees, due to the constant warfare and bloodshed occurring between theAustro-Hungarian andOttoman empires on theBalkan Peninsula. The school represented a pillar of the Serbian community of Trieste, where the children of the wealthy Serbian merchants went to school and integrated into the city's community. In 1973, the school was shut down due to lack of student enrollment and became a Sunday school for Serbian language and culture.
Besides the Saint Spyridon Church and the Jovan Miletić Serbian School, the Serbs of Trieste contributed to several other important landmarks of the city. The Gopčević family built the Palazzo Gopcevich on theCanale Grande, near the St. Spyridon Serbian Church, in 1850 in commemoration of the heroes who fought for theindependence of Serbia from the Ottoman Empire. Cristoforo Popovich owned many famous merchant ships in Trieste, some of the largest in the Adriatic—theTartana,Il Feroce Dalmata,La Forza, and theRipatriato - and was instrumental in the Russian-side during theCrimean War. Cristoforo Scuglievich (Risto Skuljevic) built the Palazzo Scuglievich in the mid-1800s along the banks of the city, and donated the palace in his will to the Serbian community of Trieste; today it is owned by the Serb community.[4] In addition to this, in the city center there are also the palaces of Serb merchants, such as the Palazzo Vucetich, Palazzo Popovich, Palazzo Kurtovich, and Casa Ivanovich.
After theWorld War I, Trieste became part of Italy and social life drastically changed for the Serbs. Due to the contentious national border withKingdom of Yugoslavia, Italian society became increasingly hostile towards allSlavs in Trieste, including the Serbs, as anti-Slavic attitudes began to flourish in Italy.[8] The anti-Slavic propaganda focused on the idea that Slavic people were barbaric and could not integrate properly into a civilized society.[8] Tensions came to a head inWorld War II, when the Germans, who had occupied northern Italy in 1943, built the only Nazi extermination camp in Italy,Risiera di San Sabba, on the outskirts of Trieste. Three thousand Jews, Serbs, and other Slavs were executed here in 1944, while thousands more were imprisoned awaiting transfer to other extermination camps.[9]
Nowadays, Serbia-born Serbs represent one of the largest foreign-born community in Trieste, numbering around 5,000.[10] The overwhelming majority of Serbs in Trieste descend from the immigration wave following theYugoslav Wars of the 1990s. Recently, the Serbian Orthodox Society in Trieste has called on the local government to grant the Serb Community of Trieste cultural autonomy and reinstate the Jovan Miletic Serbian School as a full-time school since its downgrading to a Sunday school due to inactivity in 1973.[11]
According to the official data from 2024, 29,679 Serbia-born people live in Italy, with 70% of them in regions ofVeneto (10,277) andFriuli-Venezia Giulia (5,444).Lombardy (4,229) andEmilia-Romagna (2,485) follow, driven by employment in manufacturing and services.Trieste with its 3,667 Serbia-born inhabitants is the city with largest concentration of Serbs in Italy.[12]
There are several Serb community organizations in Italy.
The Association of Serbs of Italy was established in 2015 at the meeting in Trieste.[13]
Since 2009, the Serbian Association "Vuk Karadžić", has been organizing an annual Balkan-style trumpet festival on the outskirts of Trieste called "Guča onKarst" (Guča na Karstu) modeled after the famousGuča Trumpet Festival in Serbia. Since its beginnings, the festival has managed to gain recognition and popularity, succeeding in getting famous musicians likeGoran Bregović, as well as many popular Italian acts.[14]
The oldest active Serbian sports organisation in Trieste is the amateur football club "Serbia Sport", founded in 1992, which has won a multitude of championships in the local Trieste football league. It organizes an annual Serbian-Diaspora Football Tournament in Trieste on the Serbian holidaySpasovdan.[15]
 | .jpg) | .jpg) |  |  |  |  |
| Africa |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | ||
| Europe | ||
| Oceania | ||
