Dear friends and brothers,

Italians from Istria,
of Fiume,
of Dalmatia,
of Montenegro

The National League celebrated 130 years of its history, also remembering you.

Because, of this long period that has touched three centuries, that has passed from the era of horse-drawn trams to that of computers, because of these many decades of history a good part has also been lived with you, also by you. Thus at the time of the resistance against the Habsburg genocide: the National League was present in your territories to try to contain the will of Franz Joseph to use every means to erase the Italian presence and Slavicize this entire area. Together we lived the emotion of the first redemption, in '18, with the arrival in our lands of the tricolor of Italy. Then there was the hurricane of the Yugoslav occupation, that of terror with the red star: it hit all of us, the people of the Exodus and those of the Remainers. To the common tragedy was added another: having created, within our people, fractures and divisions. The end of the Yugoslav occupation, the end of communism, including that of Josip Broz, marked the turning point.

We have begun to mend our divisions. The National League is proud of its primogeniture in addressing you as brothers found again and we are absolutely certain that this path, now widely shared, must necessarily continue. In the awareness that we all belong to one single people.

In Trieste, in Gorizia, in Istria, in Fiume in Dalmatia, in Montenegro, the Italians present in these territories all constitute one people, the people of the Italians of the Eastern Adriatic. We have a common past behind us, we claim it, we feel it as ours, we are proud of it. In the name of this common past we affirm the will, the commitment to build a common future together. Certainly we live today in different state realities (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro), in some areas we are a majority, in others a minority, in others our presence is minimal. But there is a fundamental common fact: we are all Italians and we are so in that very special way that constitutes the founding moment of our identity, even our personal one. We all feel and live Italianness as an important asset, a precious asset because it constitutes our deepest being. It is with this awareness that, on behalf of the National League, I feel I can address you in these terms: dear friends, dear brothers!

Four medallions and a big thank you

It is in this spirit that I wish to express to you our thanks from all of us.

Thank you above all because your existence in the territory, certainly not easy, not comfortable in many phases, has nevertheless made it possible for the presence of Italianity to continue in those areas, for there to be in those sites someone who speaks Dante's language and feels it as his own.

I remember Prof. Antonio Borme, a person I knew in the last years of his life (and whom I still miss) who told me «He is still among the «leftovers» that Italians from Istria are still born». This is therefore the reason for the first and fundamental thank you, mine and that of the entire League.

But I want to add something else to this: I am referring to the contributions that in any case, in all these years, have come to us from you, certainly from various authoritative voices that belong to your reality. I will exemplify this speech with some names.

First of all – at least in my opinion – that of William Klinger. He. unfortunately is no longer with us, a murderous hand cut short his young life with two gunshots to the back of the head (the murderer wanted to sign his name!), but his memory, his work remain fully current. I have been repeating it for years: it was William who made me understand the true meaning, the ratio of that tragedy, of that historical crime that bears the name of "foibe and exodus".

To the image of William from Fiume I would like to add – in these ideal medallions of your exponents – that of a young Istrian, born in Capodistria, Gabriella Chmet. Her «The Socialist Abyss» is the poignant testimony of what the long period of Yugoslavia and Tito's parable actually meant. A poignant testimony, because it is devoid of any rhetoric, a testimony that offers us that reality through the frightened eyes of a frightened child. Thank you Gabriella, your work has moved me and made me understand and feel your reality better. For this reason I dedicate the second «medallion» to you, Gabriella.

The third "medallion" also bears a female image, also of Capodistrian origin, that of Valentina Petarós. More than a person, a real volcano, capable of continuously producing projects, ideas, works. I only remember the last two: the precious research on the Venetian archives of the Italians of Dalmatia and that sort of little gem that is constituted by her booklet dedicated to Dante, our Father Dante, in his relations with the Istrian land. These are her most recent contributions, but the "volcano" Valentina is already working on the archives of the Italian families of Capodistria and Pirano and perhaps also on other themes.

There is one last "medallion" that I would like to insert. It bears the image of Nelida Milani, the writer, the great writer from Pola. Her production is so rich and important that it is difficult to make citations. I will limit myself to my personal experience. Reading "La valigia di cartone" (ed. Sallerio) was what made me discover Nelida Milani and opened the window to a world that I was almost unaware of. That work induced me to rush to read everything that bore her signature, fully motivating my gratitude towards her. On my behalf, but also on behalf of all the Italians of the Eastern Adriatic (and not only them).

Trieste our moral capital

It was February 7, 2018 when the Municipality of Trieste, through the hands of Mayor Roberto Di Piazza, conferred the «Civic Merit» to the National League with the following motivation: «As a sign of gratitude for the commitment shown since its foundation in 1891, for the preservation of the Italian soul of Trieste at the time of the Habsburg Empire, for the reunification of Trieste with Italy after the Second World War and for the claim of the right to work so that Trieste definitively acquires the role of moral capital of all Italians of the Eastern Adriatic».

An extremely important statement for the place in which it was pronounced (the solemn Council Chamber) and for the person who pronounced it (The Mayor, on behalf of the Municipality of the City of San Giusto), a statement rich in content that deserves to be analyzed specifically:

(a) there is a people of the Italians of the Eastern Adriatic
(b) Trieste claims for itself the role of moral capital of this people
(c) the National League is invested with the specific task of working to ensure that this role is realised, so that Trieste is increasingly our moral capital, so that all of us, Italians of the Eastern Adriatic, can always look to Trieste as our capital, as our point of reference, as the guarantor of our identity.

The task of the National League, in all these one hundred and thirty years that have passed, has been one and only one, the defense of our identity, that which is founded on the binomial Italy and Freedom.

This binomial is called to mark our future too, ours because it concerns the National League, because it concerns all of us, the people of the Eastern Adriatic, those who live in Italy as in Istria, as in Fiume, in Dalmatia, in Montenegro.

The “Zara Manifesto”

Another date: October 27, 2018 when an important event occurred in Zadar. The Association of Dalmatian Italians in the World held its own Rally right in the land of Dalmatia, precisely Zadar. In that city, which for all Dalmatians is the symbolic city, a document was solemnly approved, the "Manifesto of Zadar"; an approval also on behalf of all the other components of our People.

This is why it seems right to us, almost like a program for our common future, to remember and propose again to all of us and on behalf of you all those contents.

OUR IDENTITY KIT

We, Italians of the Eastern Adriatic can affirm that we are one people because:

a. we are all part of the Italian identity;
b. we live our identity in a very special way
c. we know that it is a precious asset and must be protected
d. is built on the language of Dante, on the culture and civilization of Italy
and. we are not afraid to confront other cultures, with mutual respect
f. the history we carry is placed under the sign of Rome and Venice
g. the future that awaits us is placed under the sign of our moral capital, the city of Trieste.

Paolo Sardos Albertini
President of the National League of Trieste

Source: National League