Friuli Venezia Giulia

History

The traces of a common Roman origin are clearly visible throughout the territory, which constituted the Roman province X Regio Venetia et Histria, with capital Aquileia during the Augustan period. Starting from the Lombard domination during the sixth century, the historical paths diverge and become distinctive: Cividale del Friuli - the Roman Forum Iulii (hence the name Friuli) - became the capital of the first Lombard duchy in Italy, while the Franks arrived a couple of centuries later, encouraging the growth of the Church of Aquileia. The Patriarchate of Aquileia, founded in 1077, was the center of both religious and temporal power, and also temporarily extended to the east. Already in the twelfth century, however, Gorizia became independent, while Trieste, together with other coastal towns, was organized as an independent municipality.

In the sixth century AD, the Slavs of the Alps, ancestors of the current Slovenian settled in the mountainous areas of eastern Friuli, known as the Friulian Slavia inthe plateu of the Karst in the north and south of Gorizia.

Friuli became Venetian territory in 1420, while Trieste and Gorizia remained under the control of the Austrian Empire. Pordenone still remained under the Austrian Empire until 1515, when it also fell under Venetian rule. With the peace treaty Campoformido in 1797, the rule of Venice ended and Friuli was finally ceded to Austria.

After the period of domination by Napoleon, which also covered Trieste and Gorizia, the region is re-annexed the Austrians: while Gorizia merged with the Illyrian kingdom, Trieste, together with Istria became part of the coastal region of Austria. The enlightened policy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, during the eighteenth and nineteenth century, brought an extraordinary economic prosperity, making the port Trieste the first of the empire. The successful outcome of the war of independence led only Friuli to merge into the newly-created Kingdom of Italy, while Venezia Giulia remained under the enpire.

After the First World War, which saw the region as a major theater of the clash, the fate of these border lands were again united, though Venezia Giulia, in particular, has undergone many contrasts in regard of frontiers.

Trieste was reunited with Italy in 1954 with the Memorandum of London, after a short period of Anglo-American administration and from that time the area became the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia part of the territory of the Italian Republic. The Italian Constitution assigns the status of the region with special status, along with four other Italian regions. However, the Friuli Venezia Giulia was granted administrative autonomy and special status only in 1963. The reasons for this "constitutional delay" are interwoven with international problems of the postwar period and those arising from the "diversity of the region," - the various components historical, ethnic and linguistic.