Province of Trieste
The province of Trieste (Italian: provincia di Trieste)[2] is a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Trieste. It had an area of 212 square kilometres (82 sq mi) and it had a total population of 234,668 (as of June 2016). It had a coastal length of 48.1 kilometres (29.9 mi). Abolished in 2017, it was reestablished in 2019 as the regional decentralization entity of Trieste (Italian: ente di decentramento regionale di Trieste; Slovene: enota deželne decentralizacije Trst; Friulian: ent di decentrament regjonâl di Triest), and was reactivated on 1 July 2020.[3]
History[edit]
Early history[edit]
After the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, the area of the province of Trieste was ruled by the Ostrogoths, Eastern Romans (Byzantines), Lombards and by the Franks. With the advent of the Habsburgs (13th century) the territory was divided between the lords of Duino, Trieste, San Dorligo della Valle and Muggia. During the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria and, subsequently, Joseph II, the maritime trades were increased with institution of the free port.
In 1809, the area was ceded to France after the defeat of Austria in that year. After the French definitive defeat, the communes of Duino, Aurisina, Sgonico and Monrupino, which used to be part of Carniola, were annexed to that of Gorizia and Gradisca, while Trieste became a direct city of the Austrian Empire. San Dorligo della Valle and Muggia became part of Istria.
World War I left the territory of the province almost untouched, although fierce battles were fought just on its north-westernmost edges.
The whole area was occupied by Italy in November 1918, in the aftermath of Austria's defeat in World War I. It was officially annexed to Italy with the treaty of Rapallo of 1920, which also assigned all of the former Austrian Littoral to Italy.
Languages[edit]
Italian is spoken within the whole province. In the city of Trieste, many people speak Triestine, a dialect of Venetian. Tergestine, an archaic dialect of Friulian, was spoken in Trieste and in Muggia, but became completely extinct by the mid-19th century.
An estimated 8% of the province's population (25,000 out of 260,000 from the last 1971 census) belongs to the Slovene ethnic community.
Italian legislation recognizes and protects the Slovene linguistic minority in all six municipalities of the province, although visual bilingualism is not applied in the city centre of Trieste and in the town of Muggia.[5] In addition to standard Slovene, which is taught in Slovene-language schools, three different Slovene dialects are spoken in the Province of Trieste. The Karst dialect is spoken in the municipalities of Duino-Aurisina and Sgonico, as well as in several settlements in the municipality of Trieste: Barcola, Prosecco, and Contovello. The Inner Carniolan dialect is spoken in the municipality of Monrupino and in several settlements of the municipality of Trieste, namely Opicina, Trebiciano, Padriciano, and Basovizza. The Istrian dialect is spoken in the municipalities of San Dorligo della Valle and in the rural areas of Muggia, as well as in the southern suburbs of Trieste (most notably in Servola).