Italian Slovenes - Name

Name

The denomination “Slovenes in Italy” is preferred to “Italian Slovenes” or “Slovene Italians” due to historical reasons and reasons of identity. The Slovenes of the so-called Julian March or Venezia Giulia (the present-day Provinces of Trieste and Gorizia) have become Italian citizens only with the Treaty of Rapallo of 1920; between 1922 and 1943, they have been subjected to violent policies of Fascist Italianization. In the late 1920s and 1930s, many of them supported underground anti-Fascist groups, such as the militant irredentist organization TIGR; during World War II, large portions of the population militated in the Yugoslav partisan movement, and between 1945 and 1947, many of them actively supported the annexation to Yugoslavia. In the aftermath of World War II, their integration in the Italian state was slow and difficult: much of the anti-Slav Fascist legislation (for example, the forced Italianization of family names) remained valid, and in the context of the Cold War, the Slovene minority was regarded by many political parties, as well as by segments of State institutions, as a potential Yugoslav Trojan Horse. As a consequence, the identification of the Slovenes with the Italian State has been frequently weak. Many Slovenes in Italy, especially the elderly, refuse to identify themselves as Italians. Thus the term “Slovene Italians” is deemed inappropriate by most Slovenes in Italy.

For these reasons, the term “Slovenes in Italy” has been used by Slovene minority organizations.

After 1947, the term zamejski Slovenci (literally meaning “Slovenes beyond the Border”) started to be used by the Yugoslav press and institutions, especially in Slovenia. Initially, this term referred to all Slovene minorities residing outside Yugoslavia (besides the Slovenes in Italy, the Carinthian Slovenes and Hungarian Slovenes). This is still the way how the term is used by the institutions of the Slovenian State. However, since alternative terms exist for Slovene minorities in Austria and Hungary, the term zamejski Slovenci tends to be used mostly for the Slovenes in Italy. This term is often used also by the Slovenes in Italy themselves, and is considered a neutral and politically correct term.