Gorizia and Gradisca
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gorizia and Gradisca (German: Görz und Gradisca; Italian: Gorizia e Gradisca; Slovenian: Goriška in Gradiščanska; Friulian: Gurize e Gardiscje) was a county in what is now a multilingual border area of Italy and Slovenia. It was named for its two major urban centers, Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo.
Contents |
[edit] History
- For earlier history, see County of Gorizia
The County of Gorizia became part of the Habsburg domains in AD 1500 when Count Leonhard of Lurngau died without heir. Habsburg suzerainty was interrupted briefly by the Venetians in 1508-1509. In 1647, the nearby town of Gradisca d'Isonzo was made its own county under the counts of Eggenberg but, in 1754, Gradisca was re-unified with Gorizia creating the County of Gorizia and Gradisca (Grafschaft Görz und Gradisca / Contea di Gorizia e Gradisca / Contee di Gurize e Gardiscje).
The Habsburg Monarchy lost Gorizia and Gradisca to the French during the Napoleonic Wars, when it belonged to France's Illyrian Provinces. When restored to the Austrian Empire, the county was part of the subject Kingdom of Illyria until 1849 when it was made a part of the Austrian Littoral along with Trieste and Istria. In 1861, the area was reorganized as the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (Gefürstete Grafschaft Görz und Gradisca/Principesca Contea di Gorizia e Gradisca/Poknežena grofija Goriška in Gradiščanska/Contee principescje di Gurize e Gardiscje), a crown land Austria. With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary following World War I, the county was abolished and the area became part of Italy's Province of Friuli, whose capital was Udine; in 1927 a province of Gorizia was recreated, and it included these territories, except for the district of Cervignano del Friuli, that remained under the province of Udine. That was a tough period for these lands: in fact soon the fascist regime started a policy of Italianization of the area, which constituted the eastern border of Kingdom of Italy. This policy was conducted on various aspects, i.e. the change of surnames, name of villages, prohibition to use a language other than Italian and so on, all things that contributed in various degrees to the destruction of this multicultural area and to the tragedies during and after World War II. After 1945 the eastern areas of the former county were ceded to the Yugoslav constituent republic of Slovenia although the cities of Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo remained part of Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The Slovenian portion is today known as Goriška and is part of the Slovenian Littoral.
[edit] Culture
The county of Gorizia and Gradisca enjoyed a multicultural environment, where Slavic, German and Latin people lived together and the government respected the right of minorities; it wasn't uncommon for people in this area to speak three or four language.
[edit] Friulian language
During the 19th century Gorizia was an important and lively center for the Friulian language: many old books were republished, new works were composed, also thanks to the fact that even nobility used normally the language, while for example in Udine higher class rather used Venetian dialect, because Friulian was seen as the language of peasants. Nevertheless, the variant of Gorizia was always considered less 'pure' and too influenced by Italian and German by scholars, therefore the city has never been considered completely part of Friulian-speaking lands. It's interesting to note that still today in the area of the old county is spoken the same dialect, even in those villages around Cervignano that doesn't belong since World War I to the Province of Gorizia.
The county of Gorizia and Gradisca is also important for the Friulian language because it's the only land that ever had a census on speakers of Friulian: in 1857 the census showed 48.841 Friulians, 130.748 Slovenians, 15.134 Italians and 2.150 Germans; a second census in 1921, immediately after the annexation to Italy gave similar results
[edit] Area and population in 1910
- Area: 2918 km²
- Population (1910 Census): 260,721 - 89.3 persons/km²
[edit] Ethnic groups
[edit] Districts
- Gorizia City (Stadt Görz)
- Gorizia (Görz Land)
- Gradisca
- Monfalcone
- Sežana (Sesana)
- Tolmin (Tolmein)
