EUROPEADA 2020 - Slovenes in Italy

The Slovene minority in Italy is the name given to Italian citizens who belong to the autochthonous Slovene ethnic and linguistic minority living in the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia / Furlanija-Julijska krajina. The vast majority of members of the Slovene ethnic minority live in the Provinces of Trieste/Trst, Gorizia/Gorica and Udine/Videm. The Slovenes gradually entered the territory within the Italian borders: The Slovenes from the province of Udine/Videm in 1866, the Slovenes from the province of Gorizia/Gorica in 1947 and the Slovenes from the province of Trieste/Trst in 1954.

Estimates of Ministry of the Interior say that in Friuli-Venezia Giulia/Furlanija-Julijska krajina there are 83,000 to 100,000 people who speak the Slovenian language.

The Slovene minority in Italy enjoys legal protection of its collective rights, guaranteed by the Italian constitution and specific state and regional legislation, as well as by international treaties (especially the London Memorandum of 1954) and bilateral agreements initially stipulated first between Italy and Yugoslavia (especially the Treaty of Osimo of 1975), and since 1991 between Italy and Slovenia.

Since 1945, the Slovenes in Italy have enjoyed partial cultural autonomy, including an education system in Slovene. They have a wide net of cultural and civic associations. The Slovene language is co-official in many of the municipalities with presence of the Slovene minority, and visual bilingualism is applied in most of the non-urban settlements with traditional Slovene presence. However, the implementation of these rights largely depends on the local administrations; thus, the situation varies significantly from area to area.

Both Italy and Slovenia promote Slovene culture in Friuli-Venezia Giulia/Furlanija-Julijska krajina through subsidies for Slovene associations and organisations.