The proceedings of the conference “IS IT POSSIBLE TO RETURN? The prerequisites for a cultural and socio-economic return project for the second and third generations of the exodus” organized on 21-22 November 2019 in Trieste and Rijeka by the Istro-Venetian Cultural Circle “Istria” of Trieste are available free of charge in PDF format:

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ISTRIA CLUB 

Below is the Introduction written by the conference organizers.

The Conference “Ritornare si puo?” (Is it possible to return?) was intended to be an opportunity for debate and discussion to analyze the possibilities connected to a “return” – to their lands of origin – of members of the world of exiles, and in particular of their children and grandchildren. Among the objectives
of the initiative was to offer the opportunity to outline a new project of dialogue, collaboration and recomposition between "gone" and "remained" in order to recover the values ​​of the Italian presence in Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia and to start, at least partially, a "repair" action of the deep fractures caused by the exodus trying to save the culture, identity and traditions of the Italian component of these regions.
We started from a fundamental assumption: individuals are destined to disappear, but the heritage of identity and values ​​of which they were the bearers cannot and must not disappear; first of all, a cultural heritage, both material and immaterial, must be safeguarded, which must be passed on to the younger generations.
The conservation of this heritage must however concern a “living community”, guaranteeing the reproduction of a vital fabric to avoid safeguarding a legacy without heirs, destined for “museumization”.
The saving of this heritage must be done in the territories of origin, in the historical settlement environment and not only in Italy and in the world, taking into account who are the "physical" heirs of this heritage: the descendants of the exiles and of the remaining minority, and with them all
those who wish to embrace the values ​​of this identity.
The concept and consequently a project of “cultural return” can be declined in various forms and aspects: the political-institutional one (with new bilateral agreements, laws, European projects or provisions that favor it), through the incentive of forms of economic investment aimed at subjects linked to the Istrian, Julian and Dalmatian diaspora that can stimulate an economic-social return, as well as physical, of the second and third generations of the exodus, through closer forms of collaboration between the institutions of the remaining minority and the associations of the exiles, constituting, where possible, new cultural, associative, institutional, social and economic realities.
From the works and the debate emerged useful ideas, projects and operational directions (summarised in the conclusions of the Conference) and numerous concrete proposals for the future which, it is hoped, can act as a stimulus to the start of a new phase of common commitment and collaboration.