Dalmatian Italians

File:Coat of Arms Zara.jpg

Coat of arms of Zadar/Zara, the capital city of Dalmatia for the majority of its history (until the 1920s).

Dalmatian Italians are one of the historical ethnic groups of Dalmatia (in today's 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. This group, though small in numbers, exerted an unproportionally significant and noteworthy influence on the region in the last centuries.

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.[2] The number of Dalmatian Italians in that country has fallen to 300, and the Italian Union concentrates on the Istrian region, including the city of Rijeka (Fiume), which is home to the vast majority of the Croatian Italian national minority numbering around 30,000 citizens.

In Dalmatia the most important centres of the CNI are in Zadar (Zara), Split (Spalato) and Kotor (Cattaro). [3][4]

History

Main article: History of Dalmatia

The "Roman Dalmatia" in the Middle age

Dinaric Alps were a barrier between Dalmatia and Pannonia

During the Barbarian Invasions Avars with some Slavic allies, invaded and plundered Byzantine Illyria. This led to the settlement of different Slavic tribes in the Balkans. The original Roman population endured within the safe coastal cities and in the inhospitable Dinaric Alps (the latter were later known as "Morlachs"). So, the Dalmatian cities retained their original latin culture and language such in Jadera (Zadar, Zara), Spalatum (Split, Spalato) and Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Their own vulgar Latin, developed in the Dalmatian, a vernacular language related with the Italian vernaculars spoken in central and South Italy.
These coastal cities (still under formal Byzantine rule) maintained political, cultural and economic links with Italy, through the Adriatic sea. On the other side communications with the Balkanic mainland, were hard 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 common Latin-based culture, despite the Slavicezed mainland.

Republic of Venice (998 - 1796)

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.

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

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.

The Venetians, to whom Dalmatians were already bound by race, language and culture, could afford to concede liberal terms because their own principal aims was not the territorial aggrandizement sought by Hungary, but only such a supremacy as might prevent the development of any dangerous political or commercial competitor on the eastern Adriatic..
Hungary had also 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 Traù).
Finally, in 1409 Venice purchased the "rights to Dalmatia", from Ladislas of Naples, for a sum of 100,000 ducats.
Within 10 years, the Republic achieved control over most of Dalmatia (with the exception of the Republic of Ragusa) and maintained its rule for a consistent period of 376 years, from 1420 to 1796. The southernmost area of Dalmatia was called Albania Veneta (now part of coastal Montenegro).

In these centuries a process of gradual "Venecization" took place among the native population. The Romanic Dalmatians of the cities were the most susceptible because of their romance language and Latin 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 Fiume (Rijeka).

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

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).

Venetian anyway influenced the Dalmatian Chakavian dialect [5], as well as the Albanian language.. Starting from the XV century, Italian replaced Latin as language of culture in the Venetian Dalmatia and in the Republic of Ragusa. This resulted in a process of assimilation of the Slavs, when they became urbanized.
On the other side, more and more Slavs (Catholic and Orthodox) were pushed into Venetian Dalmatia, to escape from the Ottomans. This resulted in an increasing Slavic presence in the cities.

File:Regio Dalmata.jpg

The first Dalmatian newspaper, Il Regio Dalmata-Kraglski Dalmatin, founded in Zara and printed in Italian and Croatian by Bartolomeo Benincasa in 1806

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 (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 rule (1815 - 1918)

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 napoleonic Kingdom of Italy included Istria and Dalmatia from 1805 to 1809

The Italian or Autonomist faction (later become an "Irredentist" faction), whose political goals of wich 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 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. Fiume and the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia were assigned to the Hungarian part of the Empire, while Dalmatia and Istria remained in the Austrian part.

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

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 croatized, or emigrated, as a consequence of the unfavorable situation and conflicts with the Croatian majority, as well as the Austrian central rule.
According to the linguist Matteo Bartoli, by the end of the Venetian rule, 33% of the Dalmatian population was Venetian-speaking. According to two Austro-Hungarian censi, the Dalmatian Italians were reduced to 12.5% of the population in 1865, and to 3.1% in 1890.
These censi results were referred to all of Dalmatia, while the Italians were present only in the coastal cities and in some of the islands. For example, in the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910 the city of Zara (Zadar) had still an Italian population of 9,318 (or 69.3% out of the total of 13,438 inhabitants).

The interwar period (1918 - 1941)

File:MORLACCHI.QUARNARO.jpg

Ethnic distribution in the northern Dalmatian islands in 1910:

  Italians

  Croats

  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 great part of Dalmatia. However, the pact was nullified in the Treaty of Versailles due to the objections of American president Woodrow Wilson. Italy received only the city of Zara (Zadar), as well as the islands of Cherso (Krk), Lussino (Lošinj) and Lagosta (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 Zara).

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 Fiume (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.

In Zara many Croats left, due to the oppressive policies of the fascist government. Similar oppression was undertaken in Yugoslav Dalmatia with the remaining Dalmatian Italians, though admittedly no 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 XIX century there was conflict only on the upper classes, there was now an increasing mutual hatred present in varying degrees among the entire population, enforced by the repective political propagandas.

World War II and post-war

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis in 1941 and parts of Dalmatia were annexed to Italy as the the Governorate of Dalmatia (Governatorato di Dalmazia) with Zara as its capital. The local population was subject to forced italianization by the fascist government. Following Italy's surrender in 1943, the Wehrmacht took over the occupation. As Soviet troops advanced in the Balkans in 1944, it was evacuated and Tito's partisans took control of Dalmatia. In 1943-44 Zara suffered of 54 areal bombings by the Allies and it was mostly destroyed , with heavy civilian casualties. Most civilians have already escaped to Italy, when partisans assumed the control of 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 Dalmatian Italians. Italian schools were suddenly closed in Zara in 1953.
Currently the Dalmatian Italians are only 300 in Croatian Dalmatia and 500 in coastal Montenegro.

The decrease of Dalmatian Italians

File:DialettiItalia media.jpg

The Venetian dialect of the Dalmatian Italians was classified in 1920 by G. Tagliavicini as a northern Italian dialect (dialetto settentrionale italiano).

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 and Italian nationalism (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 frome the 1840s, as a result of the age of Nationalism and the resulting conflict with the Croatian majority and the Austrian rulers.
• 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 to Italy of 25000 Dalmatian Italians, mainly toward Zara.
• 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, Zara (Zadar), Spalato (Split) and Cattaro (Kotor). Zara 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 forced emigration of nearly all the remaining Dalmatian Italians. Currently there are only 800 of them in all Dalmatia.

Modern-day presence in Dalmatia

The "Riva" (Italian: seashore) in Split (Spalato). The Italian Community office is located nereby.

Following the Italian exodus 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 the coastal cities:

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

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 was reduced from nearly a quarter of the total population of Dalmatia to a mere 300 in Croatia and 500 in Montenegro.

Main Dalmatian Italian associations

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 (Zara), with an Assembly of 236 members. The current president is Rina Villani (who has been recently elected [6] 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. [7]

• The Italian Community of Split (Comunità 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.[8] 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 (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 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.[9]

• The Italian Community of Kotor (Comunità Italiana di Cattaro), in Kotor (Cattaro) 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 (Zara) [10]

- Split (Spalato) [11]

- Dubrovnik (Ragusa) [12]

- Kotor (Cattaro) [13]

In the city of Rijeka (Fiume), that geographer Vialli considers partially dalmatian, the 7000 Italians have the local Comunita Italiana [14], the Dante Alighieri [15] and the Dramma Italiano (a theatre organization in Italian language, based in the Croat National Theatre Ivan Zajc).

Outside Dalmatia

Dalmatian diaspora

More than 20,000 Dalmatian Italians participated in the Italian Exodus from territories of the Kingdom of Italy obtained by Yugoslavia after the second world war. 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 and Canada.

Contemporary famous Dalmatian Italians

File:Ottavio Missoni.jpg

Ottavio Missoni

Small list of renowned "Dalmatian Italians" in the diaspora.

a) in Italy and in the World:

• Enzo Bettiza, journalist and international writer from Split
• Ottavio Missoni, international fashion designer from Dubrovnik
• Renzo de' Vidovich, writer and director of "Il Dalmata" [16]
• 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
• Tullio Crali, futurist painter [17]
• Secondo Raggi, Zara painter [18]
• Franco Ziliotto, Zara painter [19]
• Waldes Coen, Spalato sculptor [20]
• Giuseppe Lallich, Spalato painter [21]
• Secondo Raggi Karuz artist from Zara [22].

b) in Croatia:

• 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

Organizations and periodicals

Many Dalmatian Italians are organized in associations such as:

• Associazione nazionale Venezia Giulia e Dalmazia[23]
• Associazione italiana di Lussinpiccolo [24].
• Comunità chersina nel mondo [25]
• Libero Comune di Zara in esilio (Free Commune of Zara in exile)

The most popular periodical for Dalmatian Italians is Il Dalmata, published in Trieste by Renzo de' Vidovich. [26]

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
• Zara (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".