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[[Image:Split riva.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The "Riva" (seashore in Italian) of Split (Spalato), that was created and named by Bajamonti, the last Dalmatian Italian Major of the city. Nearby it is located the ''Comunita Italiana'' office of the local Dalmatian Italians]].
'''Dalmatian Italians''' are one of the historical [[ethnic group]]s of [[Dalmatia]] (in today's Republics of [[Croatia]] and [[Montenegro]]).<br />
'''Dalmatian Italians''' are one of the historical [[ethnic group]]s of [[Dalmatia]] (in today's Republics of [[Croatia]] and [[Montenegro]]).<br />
They are currently represented in Croatia and Montenegro by the ''Italian National Community'' ([[Italian language|Italian]]: ''Comunita Nazionale Italiana'') (CNI). The Italo-Croatian minorities treaty recognizes the ''Italian Union'' ([[Italian language|Italian]]: ''Unione Italiana'') as the political party officially representing the CNI in Croatia.[http://www.cipo.hr/sec.asp?cat=2&sub=11] The number of Dalmatian Italians in that country has fallen to 300, and the Italian Union concentrates on the [[Istria|Istrian]] region and the city of [[Rijeka]] (Fiume), wich are home to the vast majority of the Croatian Italian national minority, that numbers around 30,000 citizens.
They are currently represented in Croatia and Montenegro by the ''Comunita Nazionale Italiana'' (C.N.I.). The Treaty Italo-Croatian on Minorities recognizes to the ''Unione Italiana'' the role of association representing officially the C.N.I. in Croatia.[http://www.cipo.hr/sec.asp?cat=2&sub=11]


In Dalmatia the most important centres of the CNI are in [[Zadar]] (Zara), [[Split]] (Spalato) and [[Kotor]] (Cattaro). [http://www.cipo.hr/comunita.asp?cat=12][http://www.anvgd.it/da/200601.pdf]
In Dalmatia the most important centers of the C.N.I. are in [[Zadar]] (Zara), [[Split]] (Spalato) and [[Kotor]] (Cattaro). [http://www.cipo.hr/comunita.asp?cat=12][http://www.anvgd.it/da/200601.pdf]
[[Image:Coat of Arms Zara.jpg|thumb|right|200 px|Coat of Arms of Zara, the "capital" of the Dalmatian Italians]]
[[Image:Coat of Arms Zara.jpg|thumb|right|200 px|Coat of Arms of Zara, the "capital" of the Dalmatian Italians]]


==Main Dalmatian Italian Associations==
==Historical background==


In contemporary Dalmatia there are some Associations of the Dalmatian Italians, mainly located in important coastal cities:
The Italian Dalmatians may in part trace their origins<ref>http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Dalmatia#Population_and_National_Characteristics</ref>. back to the Romano-[[Illyrians]]. The [[Barbarian invasions|Barbarian Invasions]] opened the way for the immigration and settlement among others of [[Eurasian_Avars|Avar]], [[Slavic_peoples#Slavs in the historical period|Slavic]] and [[Goths|Goth]] tribes in [[Illyria]].


*''Comunita Italiana di Zara''. Founded in 1991 in [[Zadar]] (Zara), with an Assembly of 17 members. Actually has for president Rina Villani (who has been recently elected [http://www.dalmaziaeu.it/IlDalmata.aspx] in the 'Zupanija' of the city). The former president of the C.I., Dr. Libero Grubissich, created the first italian courses in the city after the close of all the italian school there in 1953. The actual vicepresident, Silvio Duiella, has promoted the creation of an ''Italian Choral of Zadar/Zara'' under the direction of Adriana Grubelić. In the new offices, the C.I has a library and organizes several courses of Italian and conferences. [http://www.cipo.hr/comunitad.asp?cat=12&id_com=50]
[[Image:Dalmazia1560.png|thumb|right|300px|Dalmatian possessions of the ''[[Republic of Venice|Venetian republic]]'' and the ''[[Republic of Ragusa]]'' in 1560.]]


*''Comunita Italiana di Spalato''. Was created in 1993 in [[Split]] (Spalato), with an office near the "Riva" (or seashore in Italian) of the city. The president is Eugenio Dalmas and the legal director is Mladen Dalbello. Some members are even from Sibenik/Sebenico. In the office, the C.I. makes several courses of Italian language and conferences.[http://www.cipo.hr/comunitad.asp?cat=12&id_com=40]
In the [[Dark Ages]], the [[Morlachs]] of the coastal area retained their original Roman culture the most, mainly on the islands and cities such as [[Zara#Antiquity|Iadera]], [[Split#History|Spalatum]] and [[Dubrovnik#History|Ragusa]], maintaining contact with Italy and the rest of [[History of the Mediterranean region|the Mediterranean world]] through trade routes across the Adriatic.


*''Comunita Italiana di Lussinpiccolo''. Created in 1990 in the northern Dalmatian island of [[Losinj]] (Lussino). This C.I. 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 21 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.[http://www.cipo.hr/comunitad.asp?cat=12&id_com=22]
Starting from the tenth century the [[Republic of Venice]] imposed its influence on Dalmatia, gradually assimilating the [[New Latin|neolatin]] Dalmatians.


*''Comunita Italiana di Cattaro''. Actually in [[Kotor]] (Cattaro) is being registered officially (with the "Unione Italiana") the Comunita' degli Italiani in Montenegro. In connection with this registration, the "Centro Ricerche Culturali Dalmate" has opened in 2007 the ''Casa Veneta'' in Kotor/Cattaro to celebrate the venetian heritage in coastal Montenegro.
The Republic of Venice controlled most of Dalmatia from 1420 to 1797. During that period, part of its Slavic population was italianised. The Venetian possessions were called "Venetian Dalmatia".


*''Association Dante Alighieri''. The Dante Alighieri is an Italian government organization that promotes the Italian language in the world, with the help of the italian speaking communities outside Italy. In Dalmatia is present in:
In these centuries, [[Venetian language|Venetian]] became the [[lingua franca]] of all the Adriatic Balkans, assimilating the [[Dalmatian language|Dalmatian]] of the romanised Illyrians and influencing partially the coastal Croatian language ([[Chakavian]][http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/langdial/serbcrot.html]) and the [[Albanian language]].<ref>Bartoli, Matteo. ''Le parlate italiane della Venezia Giulia e della Dalmazia''</ref> [[Zara]] was the capital of the Venetian Dalmatia, a role that has maintained through the successive centuries (during World War II it was the capital of the Italian ''Governatorato di Dalmazia'').
* Zadar/Zara [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=273]
In those centuries, the most southern area of Dalmatia was called [[Albania Veneta]], now part of coastal Montenegro.
* Split/Spalato [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=271]
* Dubrovnik/Ragusa [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=267]
* Kotor/Cattaro [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=14]


===The decrease of Dalmatian Italians===


In the city of [[Rijeka]] (Fiume), that is partially dalmatian, the 7000 Italians have the local ''Comunita Italiana'' [http://www.cipo.hr/comunitad.asp?cat=12&id_com=14], the ''Dante Alighieri'' [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=268] and the ''Dramma Italiano'' (a theater organization in italian language, based in the Croat National Theater Ivan Zajc).
Formerly an important presence (30% of the Dalmatian population during the last century of the Republic of Venice was Venetian speaking)<ref>Seton-Watson, "Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925". pag. 107</ref>, the Dalmatian Italians concentrated in the maritime Dalmatia. Nearly all the Italians in Dalmatia [[Istrian exodus|left]] or were [[croatisation|croatised]] between the 1840s and 1950s, as a consequence of ethnic conflicts with the region's Croatian majority.


Outside of Dalmatia there are thousands of Dalmatian Italians, mainly in Italy, who are organized in several associations of exiled (like, as an example, the one of Losinj/Lussinpiccolo [http://www.lussinpiccolo-italia.net/]).The most important is the ''Libero Comune di Zara in esilio'' (Free City of Zadar/Zara in exile).
According to two census data <ref>Perselli, Guerrino. ''I censimenti della popolazione dell'Istria, con Fiume e Trieste, e di alcune città della Dalmazia tra il 1850 ed il 1936''</ref> of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that substituted in Dalmatia the [[Republic of Venice]] after the Napoleonic wars, the Dalmatian Italians were 12,5% in 1865 and were already reduced to 3,1% in 1890.<br />


==Contemporary famous Dalmatian Italians==
These census results were anyway referred to all Dalmatia (with the Slavic inland), whilst the Italians were present only in the coastal cities and in the islands. For example, in the [[Habsburg empire]] census of 1910 the city of [[Zara]] (Zadar) had an Italian population of 9318 (or 69,3% out of the total of 13438 inhabitants).


More than 20000 Dalmatian Italians participated in the [[Istrian Exodus|Italian Exodus]] from the dalmatian territories of the [[Kingdom of Italy]], obtained by [[Tito]]'s [[Yugoslavia]] after WWII. Many thousands of them still live in a suburb of [[Rome]], called from them ''Quartiere Dalmato''. Someone has international fame, like the fashion designer [[Ottavio Missoni]], the writer [[Enzo Bettiza]] and the industrial tycoon Giorgio Luxardo.
[[Image:DialettiItalia media.jpg|thumb|right|300px| The Venetian dialect of the Dalmatian Italians was classified in 1920 by G. Tagliavicini as a ''Dialetto Settentrionale Italiano'' (northern [[Italian dialects|Italian dialect]])]].
The reasons of the decrease of Dalmatian Italians after the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 are various <ref>Seton-Watson, ''Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925''. pag. 47-48</ref> :


The most renowned magazine of the Dalmatian Italians is ''Il Dalmata'', published in [[Trieste]] by Renzo de' Vidovich. [http://www.dalmaziaeu.it/IlDalmata.aspx]
*One is related to the development of the nationalism [[Croatian nationalism|of the Croats]], the Slovenians, and [[Serbian nationalism|the Serbs]].
*A third (considered secundary) can be related to the emigration process of many Italians toward the growing industries of northern Italy before World War I.
[[Image:Ottavio Missoni.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ottavio Missoni]]
Small list of living and renowned "Dalmatian Italians":


*''Enzo Bettiza'', journalist and international writer from Split/Spalato
The process of the decline had various stages<ref>Colella, Amedeo. ''L'esodo dalle terre adriatiche. Rilevazioni statistiche''. pag 54</ref> :
*''Ottavio Missoni'', international fashion designer from Dubrovnik/Ragusa
* After World War I, as a result of the creation of [[Yugoslavia]] (where all Dalmatia was included, save Zara (Zadar) and some northern Dalmatian islands), there was an emigration of 25000 Dalmatian Italians, mainly toward Italy and Zara.
*''Renzo de' Vidovich'', writer and director of "Il Dalmata"
* During World War II, Italy occupied large chunks of the Yugoslav coast and created the ''Governoriate of Dalmatia'' (Governatorato di Dalmazia) (1941 - 1943), with three Italian provinces, Zara (Zadar), Spalato (Split) and Cattaro (Kotor). As a consequence [[bombing of Zara in World War II|Zara was heavily bombarded by the Allies]] and heavily damaged in 1943, with numerous civilian casualties.
*''Franco Luxardo'', major of "Libero Comune di Zara in esilio"
* After World War II Italy was forced to cede 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 300 of them in Croatia.
*''Giorgio Luxardo'', owner of the most famous "[[Maraschino]]" liquor distillery
*''Simone Filippo Stratico'', writer and university professor
*''Rina Villani'', president of the "Comunita italiana" of Zadar/Zara
*''Eugenio Dalmas'', president of the "Comunita italiana" of Split/Spalato
*''Adriana Grubelić'', director of the Italian Choral of Zadar/Zara
*''Tullio Crali'', futurist painter
*''Giuseppe Lallich'', Split/Spalato painter
*''Tonino Picula'', Losinj/Lussino politician
*''Secondo Raggi'', Zadar/Zara painter
*''Franco Ziliotto'', Zadar/Zara painter
*''Waldese Coen'', Split/Spalato sculptor


==Presence in Dalmatia==
==Presence in Dalmatia==

[[Image:Split riva.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The ''"Riva"'' ([[Italian language|Italian]]: ''seashore'') in Split (Spalato). The ''Italian Community'' office is located nereby.]]
Currently, after the Italian exodus from Dalmatia<ref>Petacco, Arrigo. ''L'esodo, la tragedia negata degli italiani d'Istria, Dalmazia e Venezia Giulia''</ref> following World War II, the Dalmatian Italians were reduced to 300 in Croatian Dalmatia and 500 in Montenegro.
Currently, after the Italian exodus from Dalmatia<ref>Petacco, Arrigo. ''L'esodo, la tragedia negata degli italiani d'Istria, Dalmazia e Venezia Giulia''</ref>[[bombing of Zara in World War II|during]] and following WWII, the Dalmatian Italians are reduced to 300 in Croatia and 500 in Montenegro.


They are concentrated in some coastal cities:
They are concentrated in some coastal cities:
*in Croatia: Zadar (Zara), Split (Spalato), Trogir (Trau), Šibenik (Sebenico).
*in Croatia: Zadar/Zara , Split/Spalato, Trogir/Trau, Sibenik/Sebenico.
*in Montenegro: Kotor (Cattaro), Perast (Perasto), Budva (Budua).
*in Montenegro: Kotor/Cattaro, Perast/Perasto, Budva/Budua.


There are Italian communities even in [[Rijeka]] (Fiume]], a city that geographically belongs to northern Dalmatia but historically has been a connecting point between Dalmatia, Istria, [[Zagreb]] and [[Hungary]].
In Croatia, there are 30,000 Italians mostly found in communities in the city of [[Rijeka]] (Fiume), and particularly in the [[Istria|Istrian]] peninsula.


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 66000 Italian speaking people between the 301000 inhabitants of Dalmatia, or 22% of the total dalmatian population.<ref>Montani, Carlo. ''Venezia Giulia, Dalmazia - Sommario Storico - An Historical Outline''</ref>
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 XIX century. The 1816 Austro-hungarian census registered 66000 Italian speaking people between the 301000 inhabitants of Dalmatia, or 22% of the total dalmatian population.<ref>Montani, Carlo. ''Venezia Giulia, Dalmazia - Sommario Storico - An Historical Outline''</ref>. Already in 1853 they had decreased to 45000 over 369000. [http://www.google.cl/books?id=r60EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA74&dq=%C3%96sterreichisches+K%C3%BCstenland&as_brr=1&hl=de#PPA38,M1]


After those years their presence constantly decreased, until their nearly disappearance after WWII. That means that in nearly two centuries the Dalmatian Italians' presence was reduced from one nearly a quarter of the population to a mere 300 people.
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 from nearly one quarter of the population in Dalmatia to the actual less than one thousand in Croatia and Montenegro.


==Historical background==
==Main Dalmatian Italian Associations==
{{main|Italian cultural and historic presence in Dalmatia}}.


The origin of the Italians in the maritime Dalmatia can be traced back to the period of influence in the region of the Venetians, who assimilated the original neolatin Dalmatians (or romanized Illyrians).<ref>Bartoli, Matteo. ''Le parlate italiane della Venezia Giulia e della Dalmazia''</ref>
In contemporary Dalmatia there are several associations of Dalmatian Italians, mainly located in important coastal cities:
[[Image:Dalmazia1560.png|thumb|right|300px|The Dalmatia of the ''Republic of Venice'' in 1560, before the inclusion of the Republic of Ragusa]]


The [[Republic of Venice]] controlled most of Dalmatia from 1420 to 1797. The Venetian possessions were called "Venetian Dalmatia" and enjoyed a flourishing period of economic bonanza with huge development of the arts.
* The ''Italian Community of Zadar'' (Communita Italiana di Zara). Founded in 1991 in [[Zadar]] (Zara), with an Assembly of 17 members. The current president is Rina Villani (who has been recently elected [http://www.dalmaziaeu.it/IlDalmata.aspx] 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. [http://www.cipo.hr/comunitad.asp?cat=12&id_com=50]


In these centuries, the Venetian language became the lingua franca of all the Adriatic Balkans, assimilating the [[Dalmatian language]] of the romanized Illyrians and influencing partially even the coastal Croatian language ([[Chakavian]][http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/540/langdial/serbcrot.html]) and the Albanian language.<ref>Bartoli, Matteo. ''Le parlate italiane della Venezia Giulia e della Dalmazia''</ref> [[Zara]] was the capital of the Venetian Dalmatia, a role that has maintained through the successive centuries (during WWII was the capital of the Italian ''Governatorato di Dalmazia'').
* The ''Italian Community of Split'' (Communita Italiana di Spalato). Was created in 1993 in [[Split]] (Spalato), 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.[http://www.cipo.hr/comunitad.asp?cat=12&id_com=40]


In those centuries, the most southern area of Dalmatia was called [[Albania Veneta]], now part of coastal Montenegro.
* The ''Italian Community of [[Mali Lošinj]]'' (Communita Italiana di Lussinpiccolo). Created in 1990 in the northern Dalmatian island of [[Lošinj]] (Lussino). 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 21 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.[http://www.cipo.hr/comunitad.asp?cat=12&id_com=22]


Formerly an important presence (30% of the Dalmatian population during the last century of the [[Republic of Venice]] was venetian speaking)<ref>Seton-Watson, "Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925". pag. 107</ref>, the Dalmatian Italians concentrated in the maritime Dalmatia. Nearly all the Italians in Dalmatia [[Istrian exodus|left]] or were [[croatisation|croatised]] between the 1840s and 1950s, as a consequence of ethnic conflicts with the region's Croatian majority.
* The ''Italian Community of Kotor'' (Communita Italiana di Cattaro), in [[Kotor]] (Cattaro) is being registered officially (with the "Unione Italiana") as the Italian Community of Montenegro (Comunita' degli Italiani in Montenegro). In connection with this registration, the "Center for Dalmatian Cultural Research" (Centro Ricerche Culturali Dalmate) has opened in 2007 the ''Venetian house'' in Kotor to celebrate the Venetian heritage in coastal Montenegro.


====The decrease of the Dalmatian Italians====
* 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 (Zara) [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=273]
:- Split (Spalato) [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=271]
:- Dubrovnik (Ragusa) [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=267]
:- Kotor (Cattaro) [http://www.ladante.it/lenostresedi/scheda_ck.asp?id=14]


According to two census data <ref>Perselli, Guerrino. ''I censimenti della popolazione dell'Istria, con Fiume e Trieste, e di alcune città della Dalmazia tra il 1850 ed il 1936''</ref> of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that substituted in Dalmatia the [[Republic of Venice]] after the Napoleonic wars, the Dalmatian Italians were 12,5% in 1865 and were already reduced to 3,1% in 1890.<br />


These census results were anyway referred to all Dalmatia (with the Slavic inland), whilst the Italians were present only in the coastal cities and in the islands. For example, in the [[Habsburg empire]] census of 1910 the city of [[Zara]] (Zadar) had an Italian population of 9318 (or 69,3% out of the total of 13438 inhabitants).
Outside of Dalmatia there are Dalmatian Italians, mainly in Italy, who are organized in several associations of emmigrants. The most well known is the ''Free City of Zadar in exile'' (Libero Comune di Zara in esilio), famous for promoting [[Italia irredenta|irredentist]] sentiments.


[[Image:DialettiItalia media.jpg|thumb|right|300px| The Dialect of the Dalmatian Italians was classified in 1920 by G. Tagliavicini as ''Dialetto Settentrionale Italiano'' (northern Italian dialect)]]
==Contemporary famous Dalmatian Italians==
The reasons of the decrease of the Dalmatian Italians after the fall of the [[Republic of Venice]] in 1797 are various <ref>Seton-Watson, ''Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925''. pag. 47-48</ref> :


*One is related to the development of the nationalism of the Croats, Serbs and Slovenians.
More than 20,000 Dalmatian Italians participated in the [[Istrian Exodus|Italian Exodus]] from the dalmatian territories of the [[Kingdom of Italy]], obtained by [[Yugoslavia]] after WWII. Many thousands of them still live in a suburb of [[Rome]], called from them ''Quartiere Dalmato''. Someone has international fame, like the fashion designer [[Ottavio Missoni]], the writer [[Enzo Bettiza]] and the industrial tycoon Giorgio Luxardo.
*Another is the hostility of the Austro-Hungarian authorities against the Italians, because of the [[Italian Wars of Independence]] from the [[Habsburg empire]].
*A third (considered secundary) can be related to the emigration process of many Italians toward the growing industries of northern Italy before WWI.


The process of the decrease had various stages<ref>Colella, Amedeo. ''L'esodo dalle terre adriatiche. Rilevazioni statistiche''. pag 54</ref> :
The most renowned magazine of the Dalmatian Italians is ''Il Dalmata'', published in [[Trieste]] by Renzo de' Vidovich. [http://www.dalmaziaeu.it/IlDalmata.aspx]
* Between 1848 and 1918 the Austro-Hungarians favored the Slav communities in Dalmatia, mainly because fearful of the Italian [[irredentism]].
* After WWI and as a consequence of the creation of [[Yugoslavia]] (where was included all Dalmatia, less Zara and some northern dalmatian islands), there was an emigration of 25000 Dalmatian Italians, mainly toward Italy and Zara.
[[Image:Ottavio Missoni.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Ottavio Missoni]]
* During WWII Italy conquered the coast of Yugoslavia and created the ''Governatorato di Dalmazia'' (1941 - 1943), with three Italian provinces (Zara, Spalato and Cattaro). As a consequence Zara was heavily [[bombing of Zara in World War II|bombarded]] by the [[Allies]] and nearly fully destroyed in 1943, with many civilian casualties.
Small list of living and renowned "Dalmatian Italians":
* After WWII Italy was forced to give all the remaining Italian areas in Dalmatia to the [[Yugoslavia]] of [[Tito]]. As a consequence happened a massive emigration (originated even by the [[foibe]] massacres) of nearly all the Dalmatian Italians remaining. Actually there are only 300 of them in Croatia.

*''Enzo Bettiza'', journalist and international writer from Spalato
*''Ottavio Missoni'', international fashion designer from Ragusa
*''Renzo de' Vidovich'', writer and director of "Il Dalmata"
*''Franco Luxardo'', major of "Libero Comune di Zara in esilio"
*''Giorgio Luxardo'', owner of the most famous "[[Maraschino]]" liquor distillery
*''Simone Filippo Stratico'', writer and university professor
*''Rina Villani'', president of the "Comunita italiana" of Zara
*''Eugenio Dalmas'', president of the "Comunita italiana" of Spalato
*''Adriana Grubelić'', director of the Italian Choral of Zara
*''Tullio Crali'', futurist painter
*''Giuseppe Lallich'', Spalato painter
*''Tonino Picula'', Lussino politician
*''Secondo Raggi'', Zara painter
*''Franco Ziliotto'', Zara painter
*''Waldese Coen'', Spalato sculptor


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 19:42, 12 October 2007

The "Riva" (seashore in Italian) of Split (Spalato), that was created and named by Bajamonti, the last Dalmatian Italian Major of the city. Nearby it is located the Comunita Italiana office of the local Dalmatian Italians

.

Dalmatian Italians are one of the historical ethnic groups of Dalmatia (in today's Republics of Croatia and Montenegro).
They are currently represented in Croatia and Montenegro by the Comunita Nazionale Italiana (C.N.I.). The Treaty Italo-Croatian on Minorities recognizes to the Unione Italiana the role of association representing officially the C.N.I. in Croatia.[1]

In Dalmatia the most important centers of the C.N.I. are in Zadar (Zara), Split (Spalato) and Kotor (Cattaro). [2][3]

File:Coat of Arms Zara.jpg
Coat of Arms of Zara, the "capital" of the Dalmatian Italians

Main Dalmatian Italian Associations

In contemporary Dalmatia there are some Associations of the Dalmatian Italians, mainly located in important coastal cities:

  • Comunita Italiana di Zara. Founded in 1991 in Zadar (Zara), with an Assembly of 17 members. Actually has for president Rina Villani (who has been recently elected [4] in the 'Zupanija' of the city). The former president of the C.I., Dr. Libero Grubissich, created the first italian courses in the city after the close of all the italian school there in 1953. The actual vicepresident, Silvio Duiella, has promoted the creation of an Italian Choral of Zadar/Zara under the direction of Adriana Grubelić. In the new offices, the C.I has a library and organizes several courses of Italian and conferences. [5]
  • Comunita Italiana di Spalato. Was created in 1993 in Split (Spalato), with an office near the "Riva" (or seashore in Italian) of the city. The president is Eugenio Dalmas and the legal director is Mladen Dalbello. Some members are even from Sibenik/Sebenico. In the office, the C.I. makes several courses of Italian language and conferences.[6]
  • Comunita Italiana di Lussinpiccolo. Created in 1990 in the northern Dalmatian island of Losinj (Lussino). This C.I. 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 21 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.[7]
  • Comunita Italiana di Cattaro. Actually in Kotor (Cattaro) is being registered officially (with the "Unione Italiana") the Comunita' degli Italiani in Montenegro. In connection with this registration, the "Centro Ricerche Culturali Dalmate" has opened in 2007 the Casa Veneta in Kotor/Cattaro to celebrate the venetian heritage in coastal Montenegro.
  • Association Dante Alighieri. The Dante Alighieri is an Italian government organization that promotes the Italian language in the world, with the help of the italian speaking communities outside Italy. In Dalmatia is present in:
  • Zadar/Zara [8]
  • Split/Spalato [9]
  • Dubrovnik/Ragusa [10]
  • Kotor/Cattaro [11]


In the city of Rijeka (Fiume), that is partially dalmatian, the 7000 Italians have the local Comunita Italiana [12], the Dante Alighieri [13] and the Dramma Italiano (a theater organization in italian language, based in the Croat National Theater Ivan Zajc).

Outside of Dalmatia there are thousands of Dalmatian Italians, mainly in Italy, who are organized in several associations of exiled (like, as an example, the one of Losinj/Lussinpiccolo [14]).The most important is the Libero Comune di Zara in esilio (Free City of Zadar/Zara in exile).

Contemporary famous Dalmatian Italians

More than 20000 Dalmatian Italians participated in the Italian Exodus from the dalmatian territories of the Kingdom of Italy, obtained by Tito's Yugoslavia after WWII. Many thousands of them still live in a suburb of Rome, called from them Quartiere Dalmato. Someone has international fame, like the fashion designer Ottavio Missoni, the writer Enzo Bettiza and the industrial tycoon Giorgio Luxardo.

The most renowned magazine of the Dalmatian Italians is Il Dalmata, published in Trieste by Renzo de' Vidovich. [15]

File:Ottavio Missoni.jpg
Ottavio Missoni

Small list of living and renowned "Dalmatian Italians":

  • Enzo Bettiza, journalist and international writer from Split/Spalato
  • Ottavio Missoni, international fashion designer from Dubrovnik/Ragusa
  • Renzo de' Vidovich, writer and director of "Il Dalmata"
  • Franco Luxardo, major of "Libero Comune di Zara in esilio"
  • Giorgio Luxardo, owner of the most famous "Maraschino" liquor distillery
  • Simone Filippo Stratico, writer and university professor
  • Rina Villani, president of the "Comunita italiana" of Zadar/Zara
  • Eugenio Dalmas, president of the "Comunita italiana" of Split/Spalato
  • Adriana Grubelić, director of the Italian Choral of Zadar/Zara
  • Tullio Crali, futurist painter
  • Giuseppe Lallich, Split/Spalato painter
  • Tonino Picula, Losinj/Lussino politician
  • Secondo Raggi, Zadar/Zara painter
  • Franco Ziliotto, Zadar/Zara painter
  • Waldese Coen, Split/Spalato sculptor

Presence in Dalmatia

Currently, after the Italian exodus from Dalmatia[1]during and following WWII, the Dalmatian Italians are reduced to 300 in Croatia and 500 in Montenegro.

They are concentrated in some coastal cities:

  • in Croatia: Zadar/Zara , Split/Spalato, Trogir/Trau, Sibenik/Sebenico.
  • in Montenegro: Kotor/Cattaro, Perast/Perasto, Budva/Budua.

There are Italian communities even in Rijeka (Fiume]], a city that geographically belongs to northern Dalmatia but historically has been a connecting point between Dalmatia, Istria, Zagreb and Hungary.

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 XIX century. The 1816 Austro-hungarian census registered 66000 Italian speaking people between the 301000 inhabitants of Dalmatia, or 22% of the total dalmatian population.[2]. Already in 1853 they had decreased to 45000 over 369000. [16]

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 from nearly one quarter of the population in Dalmatia to the actual less than one thousand in Croatia and Montenegro.

Historical background

Main article: Italian cultural and historic presence in Dalmatia

.

The origin of the Italians in the maritime Dalmatia can be traced back to the period of influence in the region of the Venetians, who assimilated the original neolatin Dalmatians (or romanized Illyrians).[3]

The Dalmatia of the Republic of Venice in 1560, before the inclusion of the Republic of Ragusa

The Republic of Venice controlled most of Dalmatia from 1420 to 1797. The Venetian possessions were called "Venetian Dalmatia" and enjoyed a flourishing period of economic bonanza with huge development of the arts.

In these centuries, the Venetian language became the lingua franca of all the Adriatic Balkans, assimilating the Dalmatian language of the romanized Illyrians and influencing partially even the coastal Croatian language (Chakavian[17]) and the Albanian language.[4] Zara was the capital of the Venetian Dalmatia, a role that has maintained through the successive centuries (during WWII was the capital of the Italian Governatorato di Dalmazia).

In those centuries, the most southern area of Dalmatia was called Albania Veneta, now part of coastal Montenegro.

Formerly an important presence (30% of the Dalmatian population during the last century of the Republic of Venice was venetian speaking)[5], the Dalmatian Italians concentrated in the maritime Dalmatia. Nearly all the Italians in Dalmatia left or were croatised between the 1840s and 1950s, as a consequence of ethnic conflicts with the region's Croatian majority.

The decrease of the Dalmatian Italians

According to two census data [6] of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that substituted in Dalmatia the Republic of Venice after the Napoleonic wars, the Dalmatian Italians were 12,5% in 1865 and were already reduced to 3,1% in 1890.

These census results were anyway referred to all Dalmatia (with the Slavic inland), whilst the Italians were present only in the coastal cities and in the islands. For example, in the Habsburg empire census of 1910 the city of Zara (Zadar) had an Italian population of 9318 (or 69,3% out of the total of 13438 inhabitants).

File:DialettiItalia media.jpg
The Dialect of the Dalmatian Italians was classified in 1920 by G. Tagliavicini as Dialetto Settentrionale Italiano (northern Italian dialect)

The reasons of the decrease of the Dalmatian Italians after the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 are various [7] :

  • One is related to the development of the nationalism of the Croats, Serbs and Slovenians.
  • Another is the hostility of the Austro-Hungarian authorities against the Italians, because of the Italian Wars of Independence from the Habsburg empire.
  • A third (considered secundary) can be related to the emigration process of many Italians toward the growing industries of northern Italy before WWI.

The process of the decrease had various stages[8] :

  • Between 1848 and 1918 the Austro-Hungarians favored the Slav communities in Dalmatia, mainly because fearful of the Italian irredentism.
  • After WWI and as a consequence of the creation of Yugoslavia (where was included all Dalmatia, less Zara and some northern dalmatian islands), there was an emigration of 25000 Dalmatian Italians, mainly toward Italy and Zara.
  • During WWII Italy conquered the coast of Yugoslavia and created the Governatorato di Dalmazia (1941 - 1943), with three Italian provinces (Zara, Spalato and Cattaro). As a consequence Zara was heavily bombarded by the Allies and nearly fully destroyed in 1943, with many civilian casualties.
  • After WWII Italy was forced to give all the remaining Italian areas in Dalmatia to the Yugoslavia of Tito. As a consequence happened a massive emigration (originated even by the foibe massacres) of nearly all the Dalmatian Italians remaining. Actually there are only 300 of them in Croatia.

References

  1. ^ Petacco, Arrigo. L'esodo, la tragedia negata degli italiani d'Istria, Dalmazia e Venezia Giulia
  2. ^ Montani, Carlo. Venezia Giulia, Dalmazia - Sommario Storico - An Historical Outline
  3. ^ Bartoli, Matteo. Le parlate italiane della Venezia Giulia e della Dalmazia
  4. ^ Bartoli, Matteo. Le parlate italiane della Venezia Giulia e della Dalmazia
  5. ^ Seton-Watson, "Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925". pag. 107
  6. ^ Perselli, Guerrino. I censimenti della popolazione dell'Istria, con Fiume e Trieste, e di alcune città della Dalmazia tra il 1850 ed il 1936
  7. ^ Seton-Watson, Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, 1870-1925. pag. 47-48
  8. ^ Colella, Amedeo. L'esodo dalle terre adriatiche. Rilevazioni statistiche. pag 54

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

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