"Živio i evviva!" : the beginnings of the dispute over the identity of the 19th-century Istria

Abstract

The main subject of the present article is the issue of Istrian identity, and particularly of the national consciousness of its inhabitants in the 19th-century. The question whether the culture and ethnicity of the province should be classified as belonging to one of the two fundamental domains, Roman (Italian) or Slavic (Croatian and Slovenian), is also analysed. What is more, the author focuses on such problems as the „national revival” of Croatians and Slovenians, the development of Croatian and Slovenian nations, and Italian unification (il Risorgimento). These problems are considered essential as far as the history of Italians and South Slavs is concerned. It would be difficult to find any ethnic conflicts during the period when most of the province was under Venetian reign; the assimilation was progressing more or less naturally. The turning point for the development of Italian national movement within the Austrian Littoral (Küstenland, Litorale Austriaco), to which Istria belonged, was the year 1848. It started to be officially claimed then that the province was of Italian character and that Austrian authorities should reconcile themselves to this assertion. After the year 1860, during the early days of Habsburg constitutional monarchy, the national revival movement of the Slavic population entered a decisive phase. However, the process was rather slow due to political and social domination of Italy. On the other hand, Italian irredentism, which aimed at uniting Istria with the Kingdom of Italy, was becoming more powerful. Istrian leaders were trying to prove that the province had always been and should continue to be part of Italy