Friuli-Venezia Giulia

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Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Regjon autonome Friûl-Vignesie Julie
Avtonomna dežela Furlanija - Julijska krajina


Capital	Trieste
President	Riccardo Illy (Independent-Union)
Provinces	4
Comuni	219
Area	7,856 km²
- Ranked	17th (2.6 %)
Population (2006 est.) - Total - Ranked - Density	1,208,278 15th (2.0 %) 154/km²

Map highlighting the location of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy

Friuli-Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,856 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is traversed by the major transport routes between the east and west of southern Europe.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Economy
4 Politics
5 Demographics
6 External links

[edit] Geography

Located in northeastern Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia borders the region of Veneto to the west, the republics of Austria and Slovenia to the north and east, and the Adriatic Sea to the south. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of 7844 km² and 1.2 million inhabitants. The length of its coast is 111.7 km. Its capital is Trieste (Slovenian: Trst; German: Triest).

Friuli-Venezia Giulia is divided into four provinces:

[edit] History

Main articles: History of Friuli and History of Venezia Giulia

The name comes from the Latin name of the town of Cividale, ancient capital of the Lombard duchy, which used to be "Forum Iulii" ("Julius' forum", named after Julius Caesar). This artificial region was created after World War II to solve the problem of Trieste, who had lost its natural hinterland, that was the major part of Venezia Giulia and has been included in the then-existing country of Yugoslavia. Therefore it was decided to aggregate the historical region of Friuli to Trieste.

[edit] Economy

Agriculture gives corn, grapes and sugar beet. Cattle-breeding is important. Industry is based on the shipyards of Trieste and Monfalcone,the steel factories of Pozzuolo del Friuli, the vineyards that produce wine and grappa. Furniture production is concentrated in Manzano and Brugnera.

[edit] Politics

Silvio Berlusconi gained 54% of Friuli-Venezia Giulia's votes at the Italian general election in 2006. The region's local government, however, is center-left.

[edit] Demographics

Apart from Italian, the Friulian language is spoken throughout the region; there is also a sizeable Slovenian and a small German minority.

The Slovenian language is spoken in the eastern parts of the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia, in the Resia valley and in the upper valleys of the rivers Torre and Natisone, with many villages having both Italian and Slovenian names.

The number of German speakers in Friuli-Venezia Giulia is estimated to be around 2,000. They live in the Channel Valley (municipalities of Tarvis, Malborghetto-Valbruna, and Pontebba), which is adjacent to Austria, and in the municipality of Zahre (Sauris)and the village of Tischlbong (municipality of Paluzza), which each form a language exclave.

As of 2006, the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 58,915 foreign-born immigrants live in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, or 4.9% of the total regional population.

Towns of Friuli-Venezia Giulia with a population of 50,000 or more: