19th century The
Republic of Venice, between the
9th century and 1797,
extended its dominion to
Istria, the islands of
Kvarner and
Dalmatia, when it was conquered by
Napoleon. Dalmatia was then aggregated to the
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1805, and annexed to the
Illyrian Provinces in 1809 (for some years also the
Republic of Ragusa was included, since 1808). After the fall of
Napoleon (1814) Istria, the islands of Kvarner and Dalmatia were annexed to the
Austrian Empire. From the Middle Ages to the 19th century, Italian and Slavic communities in
Istria and
Dalmatia had lived peacefully side by side because they did not know the national identification, given that they generically defined themselves as "
Istrians" and "
Dalmatians", of "Romance" or "Slavic" culture. Later, many
Istrian Italians and
Dalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards the
Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy. The first events that involved the
Dalmatian Italians in the unification of Italy were the
revolutions of 1848, during which they took part in the constitution of the
Republic of San Marco in
Venice. The most notable Dalmatian Italians exponents who intervened were
Niccolò Tommaseo and
Federico Seismit-Doda. After the
Third Italian War of Independence (1866), when the
Veneto and
Friuli regions were ceded by the
Austrians to the newly formed
Kingdom Italy, Istria and Dalmatia remained part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of
Italian irredentism among many Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of the
Julian March,
Kvarner and
Dalmatia with Italy. Before 1859, Italian was the language of administration, education, the press, and the
Austrian navy; people who wished to acquire higher social standing and separate from the
Slav peasantry became
Italians. In the years after 1866, Italians lost their privileges in
Austria-Hungary, their assimilation of the Slavs came to an end, and they found themselves under growing pressure by other rising nations; with the
rising Slav tide after 1890,
italianized Slavs reverted to being Croats. With the development of Croatian nationalism, critics such as Croatian historian Duško Večerina alleged that these evaluations were not conducted by modern scientific standards and that they took spoken language as the criterion, rather than blood, origin and ethnicity. They pointed out that according to a report by Imperial court councillor Joseph Fölch in 1827, the Italian language was spoken by noblemen and some citizens of middle and lower classes exclusively in the coastal cities of
Zadar,
Šibenik and
Split. Since only around 20,000 people populated these towns and not all were Italian speakers, they claim that the real number was rather smaller, probably around seven percent of the total population, as is asserted by the Department of Historical Studies of the
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU). Italian irredentists like
Gabriele D'Annunzio, as well as prominent Italian scholars like
Angelo Vivante, alleged that Fölch did not include the Dalmatian islands of
Cres (Cherso),
Lošinj (Lussino),
Krk (Veglia),
Vis (Lissa), Hvar (Lesina), Korcula (Curzola) and many other islands with significant Italian communities. They reasserted that the only official evidence about the Dalmatian population comes from the 1857 Austro-Hungarian census, which showed that in this year there were 369,310 indigenous Croatians and 45,000 Italians in Dalmatia, making
Dalmatian Italians 10.8 percent of the total population of Dalmatia in the mid-19th century. Two nationalist movements were born in Dalmatia, the Italian and the Slav. The political instances of the Dalmatian Italians were promoted to the
Autonomist Party, founded in 1878 and dissolved in 1915: a prominent member was
Antonio Bajamonti, who from 1860 to 1880 was mayor of
Split. In 1889, the foundation of the
Dante Alighieri Society, with the aim of protecting and promoting the
Italian language, made it possible to give support to the initiatives for the preservation of the Italian-speaking linguistic element. In this period
Roberto Ghiglianovich, as trustee of the company establishes the
La Lega in Zadar and promoted the enhancement of Italian culture in the area. The same year the irredentist
Luigi Ziliotto becomes mayor of Zara, a position he would hold until the outbreak of
World War I, was accused of treason and declared forfeited by the Austrian authorities. The policy of collaboration with the local
Serbs, inaugurated by Roberto Ghiglianovich and by Giovanni Avoscani, then allowed the Italians to conquer the municipal administration of
Dubrovnik in 1899. The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major coastal cities. In the city of
Split in 1890 there were 1,971 Dalmatian Italians (9% of the population), in
Zadar 7,672 (27%), in
Šibenik 1,090 (5%), in
Kotor 646 (12%) and in
Dubrovnik 356 (3%). In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Italians experienced a sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890-1910, in
Rab they went from 225 to 151, in
Vis from 352 to 92, in
Pag from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all inland locations.
20th century :
province of Zara,
province of Spalato and
province of Cattaro In 1909, the
Italian language lost its
status as the official language of Dalmatia in favour of Croatian only (previously both languages were recognized), thus Italian could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere. For the Austrian
Kingdom of Dalmatia (
Dalmatia), the 1910 numbers were 96.2 percent Slavic speakers and 2.8 percent Italian speakers, recording a drastic decline in the number of Dalmatian Italians, who in 1845 amounted to 20 percent of the total population of Dalmatia. Another evidence about the Dalmatian population comes from the 1857 Austro-Hungarian census, which showed that in this year there were 369,310 indigenous Croatians and 45,000 Italians in Dalmatia, making
Dalmatian Italians 10.8 percent of the total population of Dalmatia in the mid-19th century. Dalmatia was a strategic region during
World War I that both Italy and Serbia intended to seize from Austria-Hungary. Italy joined the
Triple Entente Allies in 1915 upon agreeing to the
London Pact that guaranteed Italy the right to annex a large portion of Dalmatia in exchange for Italy's participation on the Allied side. In November 1918, after the surrender of Austria-Hungary, Italy occupied militarily
Trentino Alto-Adige, the
Julian March,
Istria, the
Kvarner Gulf and
Dalmatia, all Austro-Hungarian territories. On the Dalmatian coast, Italy established the
Governorate of Dalmatia, which had the provisional aim of ferrying the territory towards full integration into the Kingdom of Italy, progressively importing national legislation in place of the previous one. In 1918, Admiral
Enrico Millo declared himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia. The administrative capital was
Zara. The Governorate of Dalmatia was evacuated following the Italo-Yugoslav agreements which resulted in the
Treaty of Rapallo (1920).
Italian nationalist Gabriele d'Annunzio supported the seizure of Dalmatia, and proceeded to occupy some areas in an Italian warship in December 1918. The last city with a significant Italian presence in Dalmatia was the city of Zara (
Zadar). In the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, the City of Zara had a population of 36,595, out of which 11,552 were Italians (31.6%). In 1941, during
World War II,
Yugoslavia was occupied by Italy and Germany. Dalmatia was divided between Italy, which constituted the
Governorate of Dalmatia, and the
Independent State of Croatia, which annexed
Dubrovnik and
Morlachia. After the
Italian surrender on 8 September 1943, the Independent State of Croatia annexed the Governorate of Dalmatia, except for the territories that had been Italian before the start of the conflict, such as Zara. In 1943,
Josip Broz Tito informed the
Allies that Zara was a chief logistic centre for German forces in Yugoslavia. By overstating its importance, he persuaded them of its military significance. Italy surrendered in September 1943 and over the following year, specifically between 2 November 1943 and 31 October 1944, Allied Forces
bombarded the town 54 times. Nearly 2,000 people were buried beneath rubble; 10–12,000 people escaped and took refuge in
Trieste and just over 1,000 people reached Apulia. Tito's partisans entered the city on 31 October 1944, and 138 people were killed. With the 1947
Peace Treaty and its
right of option provision,
Dalmatian Italians still living in Zadar and in Dalmatia became part of the
Italian exodus. Only about 500 people declare themselves Italian now in Dalmatia. In particular, according to the official Croatian census of 2011, there are 83 Dalmatian Italians in
Split (equal to 0.05% of the total population), 16 in
Šibenik (0.03%) and 27 in
Dubrovnik (0.06%). According to the official Croatian census of 2021, there are 63 Dalmatian Italians in
Zadar (equal to 0.09% of the total population). According to the official Montenegrin census of 2011, there are 31 Italians in
Kotor (equal to 0.14% of the total population). ==See also==