Slavia Friulana, which meansFriulian Slavia (Slovene:Beneška Slovenija), is a small mountainous region in northeasternItaly and it is so called because of its Slavic population which settled here in the 8th century AD. The territory is located in the Italian region ofFriuli-Venezia Giulia, between the town ofCividale del Friuli (not included) and the Slovenian border.
The termSlavia Friulana could possibly be used to refer to all Friulian territories with a Slavic presence, including themunicipalities ofLusevera,Taipana,Torreano,Resia and the mountainous areas of the municipalities ofTarcento,Nimis,Attimis,Faedis,Prepotto andMontenars. Despite that, in the last decades the name has been used to indicate the area also known asValli del Natisone (Natisone Valleys) which was calledAntro in the Middle Ages and thenSchiavonìa during the Venetian domination: nowadays, the area is divided into themunicipalities ofSan Pietro al Natisone,San Leonardo,Pulfero,Drenchia,Grimacco,Stregna,Savogna.
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 calledSclavons. In the early 16th century, the Venetian authorities dubbed this border region of their Republic asSchiavonia Veneta, meaning "Venetian Slav-land". TheVenetian wordsSchiavoni andSchiavonia were general terms used for allSouth Slavic peoples with which they came in direct contact, Slovenes as well as forCroats andSerbs fromDalmatia. The corresponding Latin term, Sclavonia, was also the source for the name of the region ofSlavonia in present-day Croatia. In 1884 the local historian Carlo Podrecca named the areaSlavia Italiana.
In Slovene, the traditional term has beenBeneška Slovenija, which is a literal translation ofSchiavonia Veneta. Until the early 19th century, there was no distinction between the terms "Slav" and "Slovene" in Slovenian. However, from the times ofRomantic nationalism onward, the termSlovenija, which had been sporadically used to denote lands inhabited by Slovenes/Slavs, took over a new meaning, denoting the idea of modernSlovenia. The old termBeneška 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-calledHabsburgic Illyrian kingdom), the region started to be commonly calledSlavia Friulana instead of a genericSlavia Italiana.
In the early 8th century Slavic tribes settled within the border of theLombard Duchy ofForumiulii.Paulus Diaconus, a Lombard historian at the court ofCharlemagne, mentioned the local Slavs from the region in his magnum opusHistoria Langobardorum. They were incorporated into theFrankish Empire andChristianized maybe by missionaries fromAquileia, one of the most important centers of theRoman Catholic Church in Northern Italy.
From the 9th century onward, the region belonged first to theDuchy of Friuli and later to thePatriarchate of Aquileia. In 1420 the Patriarchate of Aquileia was invaded by theRepublic of Venice.
The Venetian authorities decided to absorb the "gastaldia di Antro" in the Cividale's one, but at the same time they gave the localSlavs a remarkable autonomy. In fact, the territory was structured in two co-valleys (Antro and Merso) represented by their people's assemblies calledarenghi; 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 neighbouringHabsburg 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.
In 1797, most of the Venetian Republic was annexed to theHabsburg Empire, including Schiavonia Veneta. The Habsburg authorities abolished the ancient privileges of the local Slav populations, as they had already done with a similar system of autonomy in neighboringTolmin County in 1717. In 1805, the region was submitted to French rule, which did not restore the privileges, but replaced the old boroughs with French-style townships, led by government-appointed mayors. In 1813, the region fell again under Habsburg domination and in 1815 it was included in theAustrian administrative unit ofLombardy-Venetia. Most of the reforms introduced by the French authorities were kept. The local population fought bravely for Italian unity in 1848 and 1864. In 1866, the region became part ofItaly by areferendum (won with 3,687 votes against 1), with the exception of the villages of Breginj and Livek which were included in theAustrianCounty of Gorizia and Gradisca.
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-SlavsCarlo Podrecca andFrancesco Musoni, the Polish linguistJan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay, the SlovenesSimon Rutar andHenrik Tuma.
After 1870, when Italy conquered Rome, reducing the Pope's territories to theVatican 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 theJulian 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 FascistItalianization, 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 writerFrance Bevk fromGorizia in his novel "The Vicar Martin Čedermac" (Kaplan Martin Čedermac).[1]
DuringWorld War II theSlovene partisan resistance, led by theLiberation Front of the Slovenian People, penetrated the region. TheKobarid Republic was established as a temporary administration after theItalian armistice in early September 1943.[2]
In early November 1943,Nazi German forces crushed the insurgency, and incorporated the whole area into theOperational Zone Adriatic Coast. In 1944, theItalian resistance movement also became active in the mountains of Slavia Friulana. Tensions between the Yugoslav (Slovene) and Italian resistance movements rose. The Liberation Front of the Slovenian People wanted to annex the region to aYugoslav Communist federation, while the Italian resistance was split between theCommunists who partially supported the Yugoslav claims, and the Liberal-democratic who wanted Slavia Friulana to remain part of Italy.
In February 1945, thePorzus massacre occurred, in which the communist and filo-Yugoslav Italian partisans killed several members of the Italian liberal-democratic resistance members. In May 1945 the whole area was invaded by theYugoslav People's Army, which however withdrew a few weeks later after the British arrival. Liberal-democratic-catholic partisans, members of the Royal Army and the defeated fascist soldiers joined up together to fight the communists and the Yugoslavs.
In 1945, Slavia Friulana again became an integral part of Italy. It was included in theregion ofFriuli-Venezia Giulia. Between 1945 and 1947, Slavia Friulana was a region on the border with theCommunist Bloc, and it was listed as a special operational zone ofGladio, a clandestineNATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II, intended to counter a possibleWarsaw Pact invasion ofWestern Europe. The activists of Gladio were mostly local members of theAlpini troops.[3]
In the following decades, the presence of a militarized border didn't allow an economic and infrastructural development and this situation caused a widespreademigration during the same period. Europe's ideological division ignited in this area an ethnic one: local communists continued to support the Yugoslav socialist regime claiming the recognition of aSlovene minority; also a few priests continued to identify the population as Slovene. On the other hand, some locals consider themselves as Italo-slavs or nedižouci (inhabitants of the Natisone valley; singular: nedižovac) and rečanji (inhabitants of the Alberone, Erbezzo and Cosizza valleys; singular: rečanj). They claim to speak nediško, with ethnical differences by the Slovene neighbours. Although Yugoslavia started its dissolution afterJosip Broz Tito died in 1980 and the cold war ended in 1989, this ethnic debate hasn't been cleared yet and it's still caged within an ideological contest.
| 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 inNorthern Italy,Switzerland,Belgium andGermany. In May and September 1976, two earthquakes hit Friuli, causing large scale damages.
Although the area was largely depopulated after 1977, the political pressure was lifted after theTreaty 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 inSan 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 theEuropean Union in 2004, the relations between the Slavia Friulana and the borderingGoriška region have intensified.
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 theNatisone Valley dialect, theTorre Valley dialect, theResian dialect and theIudrio 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 theLittoral dialect group.
Almost all of the inhabitants are fluent inItalian, which is taught in schools and present in the media and in the administration.Friulian is also widespread, especially in the municipalities ofMontenars,Tarcento,Nimis,Attimis,Torreano, andPrepotto; in many villages in these municipalities, the Friulian language has already replaced Slovene as thefirst language of communication. Because of the lack of education in Slovene, most of the inhabitants do not master standard Slovene. Many do not understand it either, especially in the areas where the Slovenian TV and radio are not accessible, since standard Slovene is not entirely intelligible with the languages spoken in the region. They are however partially intelligible with the neighbouring Slovene dialects spoken in theSlovenian Littoral, especially theSoča andBrda dialects, which actually were parts of the ancient Venetian Schiavonia and annexed to Habsburgs' county of Gorizia in the early 19th century.
The vast majority of the people belong to theRoman Catholic Church and the religion plays an important role in the local culture. The Roman Catholic priests have traditionally been the most important promoters of the Slovene language and culture in Slavia Friulana. Anyway, the linguistic matter hasn't been clarified yet. In the late 19th century, the Polish linguistJan Baudouin de Courtenay considered the four local languages as different Slavic ones, rich in Slavic archaisms which make them often sound closer to Serbian. He classified the four Friulian Slav groups as those of the Resia Valley, Torre Valleys, Natisone Valleys, and Judrio Valleys.
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. Numerousfolk andethno music bands come from the region, and many of them are extremely popular throughoutSlovenia and theFriuli-Venezia Giulia. The best-known of these bands are probably theBeneški fantje ("Venetian Lads"), which are considered to be oldest still existing Slovene band. Besides its archaic traditional music and dances, theResia valley is also known for its folk tales, mainly animal fables; these were edited and translated into standard Slovene by the scholarMilko Matičetov, and published as a children's picture book byMladinska knjiga in 1976. The book saw eight editions and was adapted into a puppet show ("Beasties from Resia") byRTV Slovenija in 1976, with a huge impact in popularizing the Friulian Slav folk culture in Slovenia.
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 areSilvana Paletti,Francesco Bergnach, andMarina Cernetig.
Since 1994, the artistic projectStazione di Topolò – Postaja Topolove or "Topolò Station" takes place every summer in the small village of Topolò (Slovene:Topolovo, known asTopolove orTopoluove 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.
Media related toSlavia Friulana at Wikimedia Commons46°8′22″N13°27′39″E / 46.13944°N 13.46083°E /46.13944; 13.46083
