Dalmatian Italians

Dalmatian Italians are a mostly historical Italian national minority in the region of Dalmatia, part of the Republics of Croatia and Montenegro.

After the 1840s the ethnic group suffered from an apparently constant trend of decreasing presence and now numbers only around 1,000 people. Throughout history, however, this group (though small in numbers) exerted a disproportionally significant influence on the region.

They are currently represented in Croatia and Montenegro by the Italian National Community (Italian: Comunita Nazionale Italiana) (CNI). The Italo-Croatian minorities treaty recognizes the Italian Union (Unione Italiana) as the political party officially representing the CNI in Croatia. The number of Dalmatian Italians in Croatia has fallen to 300, and the Italian Union concentrates on the Istrian region and the city of Rijeka, which are home to the vast majority of the Italian minority in Croatia (numbering around 30,000 citizens).

In Dalmatia the most important centers of the CNI are in Split, Zadar, and Kotor. [2][3]

History

Main article: History of Dalmatia

Roman Dalmatia and the Middle ages

During the Barbarian Invasions Avars allied with certain Slavic tribes, invaded and plundered Byzantine Illyria. This eventually led to the settlement of different Slavic tribes in the Balkans. The original Roman population endured within the coastal cities and in the inhospitable Dinaric Alps (the latter were later known as "Morlachs"). The Dalmatian cities retained their Romanic culture and language in cities such as Jadera (Zadar, Zara), Spalatum (Split, Spalato) and Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Their own vulgar Latin, developed in the Dalmatian language, a now extinct Romance language.
These coastal cities (politically part of the Byzantine Empire) maintained political, cultural and economic links with Italy, through the Adriatic sea. On the other side communications with the mainland were difficult because of the Dinaric Alps. Due to the sharp orography of Dalmatia, even communications between the different Dalmatian cities, occurred mainly trough the sea. This helped Dalmatian cities to develop a unique Romance culture, despite the Slavicized mainland.

In 997 A.D. the Venetian Doge Pietro Orseolo II, following repeated complaints by the Dalmatian city-states, commanded the Venetian fleet that attacked the Narentine pirates. On the Ascension Day in 998, Pietro Orseolo assumed the title of "Dux Dalmatianorum" (Duke of the Dalmatians), associating it with his son Giovanni Orseolo. It was the beginning of the Venetian influence in Dalmatia. However, while Venetian influence could always be felt, actual political rule over the province often changed hands between the Republic and other regional powers, namely the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia, and the Kingdom of Hungary.

Map of the Venetian Republic, circa 1000. The Republic is in dark red, borders in light red.

The Venetians could afford to concede relatively generous terms because their own principal aims was not the territorial aggrandizement sought by Hungary, but economic suppression of any potential commercial competitors on the eastern Adriatic. This aim brought on the necessity of enforced economic stagnation for the Dalmatian city states, while the Hungarian feudal system promised greater political and commercial autonomy..
Hungary therefore also had its partisans; for in the Dalmatian city states, there were almost invariably two jealous political factions, each ready to oppose any measure advocated by its antagonist. The origin of this division seems here to have been economic. The farmers and the merchants who traded in the interior naturally favoured Hungary, their most powerful neighbour on land; while the seafaring community looked to Venice as mistress of the Adriatic. In return for protection, the cities often furnished a contingent to the army or navy of their suzerain, and sometimes paid tribute either in money or in kind.
The citizens clung to their municipal privileges, which were reaffirmed after the conquest of Dalmatia in 1102-1105 by Coloman of Hungary. Subject to the royal assent they might elect their own chief magistrate, bishop and judges. Their Roman law remained valid. They were even permitted to conclude separate alliances. No alien, not even a Hungarian, could reside in a city where he was unwelcome; and the man who disliked Hungarian dominion could emigrate with all his household and property. In lieu of tribute, the revenue from customs was in some cases shared equally by the king, chief magistrate, bishop and municipality. These rights and the analogous privileges granted by Venice were, however, too frequently infringed, Hungarian garrisons being quartered on unwilling towns, while Venice interfered with trade, with the appointment of bishops, or with the tenure of communal domains. Consequently the Dalmatians remained loyal only while it suited their interests, and insurrections frequently occurred.
Zara made no exception, and four outbreaks are recorded between 1180 and 1345, although Zara was treated with special consideration by its Venetian masters, who regarded its possession as essential to their maritime ascendancy.
The doubtful allegiance of the Dalmatians tended to protract the struggle between Venice and Hungary, which was further complicated by internal discord due largely to the spread of the Bogomil heresy; and by many outside influences, such as the vague suzerainty still enjoyed by the Eastern emperors during the 12th century; the assistance rendered to Venice by the armies of the Fourth Crusade in 1202; and the Tartar invasion of Dalmatia forty years later (see Trogir).

Republic of Venice (1420 - 1796)

Dalmatian possessions of the Venetian Republic and the Republic of Ragusa in 1560.

In 1409, during the 20-year Hungarian civil war between King Sigismund and the Neapolitan house of Anjou, the losing contender, Ladislaus of Naples, sold his "rights" on Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for a meager sum of 100,000 ducats. The more centralized merchant republic took control of the cities by the year 1420 (with the exception of the Republic of Ragusa), they were to remain under Venetian rule for a period of 377 years (1420 - 1797). The southernmost area of Dalmatia (now part of coastal Montenegro) was called Albania Veneta during that time.

In these centuries a process of gradual "Venecization" took place among the native population. The Romance Dalmatians of the cities were the most susceptible because of their similar culture and were completely assimilated. The Venetian dialect, which was already the lingua franca of the Adriatic area, was adopted by the Latin Dalmatians of the cities (speakers of the Dalmatian), as their own vernacular language. This process was aided by the constant migration between the Adriatic cities and involved even the independent Ragusa and the port of Rijeka.
The larger Slavic population proved more resistant, partly because of its size and the linguistic unsimilarity, and partly because the Slavs (Croats and Serbs) were mostly situated outside the cities (in the hinterland and the islands).

The Venetian dialect influenced the Dalmatian dialect of the Croatian language, the Chakavian dialect [4], as well as the Albanian language.. Starting from the 15th century, Italian replaced Latin as the language of culture in the Venetian Dalmatia and in the Republic of Ragusa. This resulted in a process of partial assimilation of the Slavic population, which was already present in the coastal cities and islands for several centuries (particularly in Spalatum and Ragusa).
On the other hand, more and more Slavs (Catholic and Orthodox) were pushed into Venetian Dalmatia, to escape the Ottomans. This resulted in an increase of the Slavic presence in the cities.

Napoleonic era (1797 - 1815)

In 1797, during the Napoleonic wars, the Republic of Venice was dissolved. The former Venetian Dalmatia was included in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy from 1805 to 1809 (the Republic of Ragusa was included in 1808), and in Illyrian Provinces from 1809. After the final defeat of Napoleon, the entire territory was granted to the Austrian Empire by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. This marked the beginning of 100 years (1815 - 1918) of Austrian rule in Dalmatia.

Austrian Empire (1815 - 1918)

"Distribution of Races in Austria–Hungary" from the Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1911.

During the period of the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Dalmatia was a separate administrative unit.
After the revolutions of 1848 and after the 1860s, as a result of the romantic nationalism, two factions appeared.
The Italian or Autonomist faction (or the "Irredentist faction"), whose political goals of which varied from autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to a political union with Italy.
The Croatian faction (later called Unionist faction or "Puntari"), led by the People's Party and, to a lesser extent, the Party of Rights, both of which advocated the union of Dalmatia with Croatia-Slavonia which were under Hungarian administration. The political alliances in Dalmatia shifted over time. At the beginning, the Unionists and Autonomists were allied together, against the centralism of Vienna. After a while, when the national question came to prominence, they split.
In 1867, the Empire was reorganized as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Rijeka and the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia were assigned to the Hungarian part of the Empire, while Dalmatia and Istria remained in the Austrian part.
The Unionist faction won the elections in Dalmatia in 1870, but they were prevented from following through with the merge with Croatia and Slavonia due to the intervention of the Austrian imperial government.

The Austrian century was a time of decline for the Dalmatian Italians. Starting from the 1840s, large numbers of the Italian minority were passively croatized, or had emigrated as a consequence of the unfavorable economic situation.
According to the linguist Matteo Bartoli, by the end of the Venetian rule, 33% of the Dalmatian population was Italian-speaking. According to two Austro-Hungarian censi, the Dalmatian Italians formed 12.5% of the population in 1865, and 3.1% in 1890.

The interwar period (1918 - 1941)

File:MORLACCHI.QUARNARO.jpg

Ethnic distribution in Istria and in the northern Dalmatian islands in 1910:

  Croats

  Italians

  Slovenes

Following the conclusion of World War I and the disintegration of Austria-Hungary, the vast majority of Dalmatia became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia).
Italy entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915, after the secret London Pact, which granted to Italy a large portion of Dalmatia. However, the pact was nullified in the Treaty of Versailles due to the objections of American president Woodrow Wilson and the South Slavic delegations. Apart from Istria (and later Rijeka), Italy nevertheless received the city of Zadar, along with the islands of Cres, Lošinj, and Lastovo. A large number of Italians (allegedly nearly 20,000) moved from the areas of Dalmatia assigned to Yugoslavia and resettled in Italy (mainly in Zadar).

Relations with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were severely affected and constantly remained tense, because of the dispute over Dalmatia and , in a second time, because of the lasting over the city-port of Rijeka, which had to became a free state according to the League of Nations, but was occupied by some Italian rebels leaded by the writer Gabriele d'Annunzio. In 1924 the city was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia (treaty of Rapallo).
Starting from 1922, Fascism came to power in Italy. The fascist policies included strong nationalistic policies. Minorities rights were severely reduced. This included the shutting down of educational facilities in Slavic languages, forced italianization of citizen's names, and the brutal persecution of protests to such a situation.
In Zadar (Zara) many Croats left, due to these oppressive policies of the fascist government. Similar oppression cannot be said to have taken place in Yugoslav Dalmatia with the remaining Dalmatian Italians, as no form of forced slavification took place. In fact Italian minorities living in Yugoslavia had some degree of protection, according to the treaty of Rapallo (such as Italian citizenship and primary instruction).

All this increased the intense resentment between the two ethnic groups. Where in 19th century there was conflict only on the upper classes, there was now an increasing mutual hatred present in varying degrees among the entire population.

World War II and post-war

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the Wehrmacht in 1941 and parts of Dalmatia were annexed to Italy as the the Governatorate of Dalmatia (Governatorato di Dalmazia) with Zadar (Zara) as its capital. The local population was subject to violent forced italianization by the fascist government. Several concentration camps were established by Italian authorities to house these "enemies of the state", including the infamous Gonars and Rab concentration camps. The Italian authorities were not able to maintain control over the hinterland and the interior of the islands, however, and they were controlled by the Yugoslav Partisans for much of the war.

Following the Italian capitulation of 1943, the German Army (Wehrmacht) took over the occupation after a short period of Partisan control (officially, the Governatoriate of Dalmatia was handed to the control of the Nazi-puppet Independent State of Croatia). During this period a large proportion of the coastal city population volunteered to join the Partisans (most notably that of Split, where a third of the total population left the city), while many Italian garrisons deserted to fight as Partisan units and still others were forced to surrender their weapons and equipment. As Soviet troops advanced in the Balkans in 1944, a small-scale evacuation took place in Zadar, while Marshall Tito's Partisans (since 1942 recognized as Allied troops) simultaneously moved to liberate the remainder of Axis-occupied Dalmatia. Split was henceforth the provisional capital of Allied-liberated Croatia.
In 1943-44 the city of Zadar suffered 54 areal bombings by the Allies and it severely damaged, with heavy civilian casualties. Many civilians have already escaped to Italy when Partisans liberated the city.

After World War II Italy ceded all remaining Italian areas in Dalmatia to the new SFR Yugoslavia. This was followed by a further emigration of nearly all the remaining Italians (in Dalmatia). Italian language schools in Zadar were closed in 1953, due to the dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia over Trieste. Currently there are around 300 Italians in Croatian Dalmatia, and around 500 in coastal Montenegro.

The decrease of Dalmatian Italians

File:DialettiItalia media.jpg

The Venetian dialect of the Dalmatian Italian minority was classified in 1920 by G. Tagliavicini as a northern Italian dialect.

Reasons

There are several reasons for the decrease of the Dalmatian Italian population following the rise of European nationalism in the 19th century:

• The conflict with the Austrian rulers caused by the Italian "Risorgimento".
• The emergence of Croatian nationalism and Italian irredentism (see Risorgimento), and the subsequent conflict of the two.
• The emigration of many Dalmatians toward the growing industrial regions of northern Italy before World War I.

Stages

The process of the decline had various stages :

• Under the Austrian starting from the 1840s, as a result of the age of Nationalism, the birth of Italian irredentism, and the resulting conflict with the Croatian majority and the Austrian rulers.
• After World War I, as a result of the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (where all Dalmatia was included (save Zadar and some northern Dalmatian islands), there was an emigration of a large number of Dalmatian Italians, mainly toward Zadar.
• During World War II, Italy occupied large chunks of the Yugoslav coast and created the Governorate of Dalmatia (Governatorato di Dalmazia) (1941 - 1943), with three Italian provinces, Zadar (Zara), Split and Kotor. Zadar was bombarded by the Allies and heavily damaged in 1943-44, with numerous civilian casualties. The most of the population moved to Italy.
• After World War II Italy ceded all remaining Italian areas in Dalmatia to the new SFR Yugoslavia. This was followed by a massive emigration of nearly all the remaining Dalmatian Italians. Currently there are only 800 of them in all Dalmatia.

Modern-day presence in Dalmatia

Following the Italian emigration from Dalmatia following World War II, the Dalmatian Italians were reduced to 300 in Croatian Dalmatia and 500 in Montenegro.

They are to be found in coastal cities:

• in Croatia: Zadar, Split, Trogir, and Šibenik.
• in Montenegro: Kotor, Perast, and Budva.

In Croatia, there are 30,000 Italians mostly located in communities in the Istrian peninsula and the city of Rijeka (Fiume).

The Dalmatian Italians were a fundamental presence in Dalmatia, when the process of political unification of the Italians, Croats and Serbs started at the beginning of the 19th century. The 1816 Austro-Hungarian census registered 66,000 Italian speaking people between the 301,000 inhabitants of Dalmatia, or 22% of the total dalmatian population.

After those years their presence constantly decreased, until their nearly disappearance after WWII. That means that in nearly two centuries the Dalmatian Italians' presence went down from nearly a quarter of the total population of Dalmatia, to a mere 300 in Croatia and 500 in Montenegro.

Main Dalmatian Italian associations

File:Regio Dalmata.jpg

The first Dalmatian newspaper, Kraglski Dalmatin-Il Regio Dalmata (The Royal Dalmatian), founded in Zadar and printed in Croatian and Italian in 1806.

In contemporary Dalmatia there are several associations of Dalmatian Italians, mainly located in important coastal cities:

• The Italian Community of Zadar (Comunità Italiana di Zara). Founded in 1991 in Zadar, with an Assembly of 236 members. The current president is Rina Villani (who has been recently elected [5] in the Zadar county, or Županija). The former president of the CI, Dr. Libero Grubišić, started the first Italian courses in the city after the close of all the Italian school in Zadar in 1953. The actual vicepresident, Silvio Duiella, has promoted the creation of an Italian Choral of Zadar under the direction of Adriana Grubelić. In the new offices, the CI has a library and organizes several courses of Italian and conferences. [6]

• The Italian Community of Split (Comunità Italiana di Spalato). Was created in 1993 in Split, with an office near the city's trademark Riva seashore. The president is Eugenio Dalmas and the legal director is Mladen Dalbello. In the office, the CI houses several courses of Italian language and conferences.[7] This CI has 97 members.

• The Italian Community of Mali Lošinj (Comunità Italiana di Lussinpiccolo). Created in 1990 in the northern Dalmatian island of Lošinj. This CI was founded thanks to Stelio Cappelli (first president) in this little island, that belonged to the Kingdom of Italy from 1918 to 1947. It has 461 members under the actual leadership of Anna Maria Saganici, Livia Andrijčić and Andrino Maglievaz. The activities are done in a place offered by the local authorities. The library has been donated by the local Rotary Club.[8]

• The Italian Community of Kotor (Comunità Italiana di Cattaro), in Kotor is being registered officially (with the "Unione Italiana") as the Italian Community of Montenegro (Comunità degli Italiani del Montenegro). In connection with this registration, the "Center for Dalmatian Cultural Research" (Centro di Ricerche Culturali Dalmate) has opened in 2007 the Venetian house in Kotor to celebrate the Venetian heritage in coastal Montenegro.

• The "Dante Alighieri" Association. The "Dante Alighieri" is an Italian government organization that promotes Italian language in the world, with the help of the Italian speaking communities outside Italy. In Dalmatia is present in:

- Zadar [9]

- Split [10]

- Dubrovnik [11]

- Kotor [12]

In the city of Rijeka, that geographer Vialli considers partially Dalmatian, 7,000 Italians have a local Italian Community, the Dante Alighieri [13] and the Italian Drama (Dramma Italiano) (a theatre organization in Italian language, based in the Croat National Theatre Ivan Zajc).

Dalmatian-Italian diaspora

A large number of Dalmatian Italians participated in the Istrian Exodus from territories of the Kingdom of Italy obtained by SFR Yugoslavia after World War 2. Many thousands moved to Italy, with many continuing to live in a suburb of Rome often referred to as the Quartiere Dalmato. Some have become world renowned, such as the fashion designer Ottavio Missoni, the writer Enzo Bettiza, and the industrial tycoon Giorgio Luxardo, founder of the Maraschino liquor distillery.

Others were part of the general Italian diaspora, some relocating as displaced persons to other countries, especially to Australia, the United States, Canada and Argentina.

Contemporary famous Dalmatian Italians

File:Ottavio Missoni.jpg

Ottavio Missoni

Small list of renowned "Dalmatian Italians"

a) in Italy:

• Enzo Bettiza, journalist and international writer from Split
• Ottavio Missoni, international fashion designer from Dubrovnik
• Renzo de' Vidovich, writer and director of "Il Dalmata" [14]
• Franco Luxardo, mayor of the "Free commune of Zara in exile" (Libero Comune di Zara in esilio)
• Giorgio Luxardo, owner of the most famous "Maraschino" liquor distillery
• Simone Filippo Stratico, writer and university professor
• Tullio Crali, futurist painter [15]
• Secondo Raggi, Zadar painter [16]
• Nino Nutrizio, founder of the Italian newspaper La Notte, from Trogir
• Franco Ziliotto, Zadar painter [17]
• Waldes Coen, Split sculptor [18]
• Giuseppe Lallich, Split painter [19]
• Secondo Raggi Karuz artist from Zadar [20]
• Mila Schon, born Mila Carmen Nutrizio[21], fashion designer from Trogir

b) in Croatia:

• Rina Villani, president of the Italian community in Zadar (Comunità degli Italiani di Zara)
• Eugenio Dalmas, president of the Italian community in Split (Comunità degli Italiani di Spalato)
• Adriana Grubelić, director of the Italian Choral of Zadar
• Gastone Coen, historian and writer from Zadar[22][23]

Organizations and periodicals

Many Dalmatian Italians are organized in associations such as:

• Associazione nazionale Venezia Giulia e Dalmazia[24]
• Comunità di Lussinpiccolo [25].
• Comunità chersina nel mondo [26]
• Libero Comune di Zara in esilio (Free Commune of Zadar in exile)
• Società Dalmata di Storia Patria[27]

The most popular periodical for Dalmatian Italians is Il Dalmata, published in Trieste by Renzo de' Vidovich. [28]

Bibliography

• Bartoli, Matteo. Le parlate italiane della Venezia Giulia e della Dalmazia. Tipografia italo-orientale. Grottaferrata 1919.
• Colella, Amedeo. L'esodo dalle terre adriatiche. Rilevazioni statistiche. Edizioni Opera per Profughi. Roma, 1958
• Čermelj, Lavo. Sloveni e Croati in Italia tra le due guerre. Editoriale Stampa Triestina, Trieste, 1974.
• Montani, Carlo. Venezia Giulia, Dalmazia - Sommario Storico - An Historical Outline. terza edizione ampliata e riveduta. Edizioni Ades. Trieste, 2002
• Perselli, Guerrino. I censimenti della popolazione dell'Istria, con Fiume e Trieste, e di alcune città della Dalmazia tra il 1850 e il 1936. Centro di ricerche storiche - Rovigno, Trieste - Rovigno 1993.
• Petacco, Arrigo. L'esodo, la tragedia negata degli italiani d'Istria, Dalmazia e Venezia Giulia, Mondadori, Milano, 1999.
• Pupo, Raoul; Spazzali, Roberto. Foibe. Bruno Mondadori, Milano 2003.
• Rocchi, Flaminio. L'esodo dei 350.000 giuliani, fiumani e dalmati. Difesa Adriatica editore. Roma, 1970
• Seton-Watson, "Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925", John Murray Publishers, Londra 1967.

See also

• Republic of Ragusa
• History of Dalmatia
• Venetian Dalmatia and Republic of Ragusa
• Zadar
• Albania Veneta
• Italia irredenta
• Istrian exodus
• Italian language in Croatia
• Italian cultural and historic presence in Dalmatia

External links

• Italians of Dalmatia
• Comunità Nazionale Italiana: official site
• Disappearing of Italians in Dalmatia
• History of Dalmatia
• La presenza italiana in Dalmazia
• Gli italofoni in Istria a Fiume e in Dalmazia
• Società dalmata di storia patria
• Fondazione scientifico culturale Eugenio Dario e Maria Rustia Traine
• La toponomastica e la lingua della Dalmazia e dell'Istria dal principio ’800 al 1920
• Un glossario slavo/italiano delle località di Istria, Quarnero e Dalmazia
• Alcuni particolari sul martirio della Dalmazia (1919)
• Luciano Monzali '"Italiani di Dalmazia. Dal Risorgimento alla Grande Guerra".
• Luciano Monzali '" Italiani di Dalmazia. 1914 - 1924".