Sette Comuni

Map of north-east Italy showing the location of the Sette Comuni

The Sette Comuni (Template:Lang-cim, Template:Lang-de) are seven comuni that formed a Cimbrian enclave in the Veneto region of north-east Italy. Cimbrian, a dialect of Upper German, was the native tongue, and the area was ethnically and culturally diverse from the surrounding comuni.

History

Coats of arms of the Sette Comuni on the municipal hall of Sleghe

The plateau of the Sette comuni in a map of Giandomenico Dall'acqua of the Territory of Vicenza, 17th century

The comuni are on the Altopiano di Asiago, a high plateau northwest of Vicenza. They are:

Comune	Cimbrian	German	Inhabitants	Altitude (m)	Notes
Asiago	Sléghe/Schlège	Schlägen	6533	1001
Enego	Ghenébe/Jenève	Jeneve	1927	800
Foza	Vüsche/Vütsche	Fütze	731	1083
Gallio	Gell(e)/Ghèl	Gelle	2331	1093
Lusiana	Lusaan	Lusian	2833	752
Roana	Robàan	Rovan or Rain	4245	994
Rotzo	Rotz	Ross	620	938
Conco	Kunken		2252	830	the "eighth comune", a frazione of Lusiana until 1796

The seven comuni formed together into a loose commonwealth in 1310. They were historically under the suzerainty of the Milanese House of Visconti and then under the Republic of Venice. Under both they enjoyed wide cultural and political autonomy in exchange for their loyalty. The autonomous status came to an end with the Napoleonic Wars and the demise of the Serenìsima in 1807.

Cimbrian has gone extinct in most of the comuni. Only in Robàan and its district Mittebald/Toballe (Mittewald, Mezzaselva) has Cimbrian survived.

Robàan has the cultural institute "Agustin Prunner" which is a repository of the Cimbrian culture and cooperates with other linguistic enclaves in Lusern, Fersental, Sappada, Sauris, the Thirteen Communities and Timau. Vestiges of the once dominant language are family and place names, which are mostly still Cimbrian.

See also

• Calà del Sasso

External links

• Asiago 7 Comuni news and information
• Asiago.to (in Italian)
• reggenza7comuni.it (in Italian)
• Tourism website (in Italian)