The exhibition was inaugurated on Tuesday 30 May, in the Cenacolo room in the Vicolo Valdina Complex, in Rome. Yesterday, we are, we will be. Julian emigration in the worldThe retrospective is promoted by theGiuliani Association in the World, under the patronage of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

“For the regional administration, it is important to enhance the activity of fellow countrymen abroad, not only because of the emotional bond that is due to those who emigrated from our lands of origin but also because that emigration represents a piece of history”, declares the councilor for Local Autonomies of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Pierpaolo Roberti. “In this case, the exhibition inaugurated today in Rome provides an important insight into our history and our recent past”.

“Ierimo, semo, sarà” highlights the small and jagged border territory that was the scene of an exceptional intensity of conflict events. Here are the shots of the first departures from the Isonzo, the mass exodus from Istria, Fiume, the islands of Quarnero and Dalmatia and then the subsequent, intense migratory flows from Trieste and Venezia Giulia. The exhibition aims to synthetically reconstruct this history from the point of view of the Giuliani nel Mondo Association, founded in 1970 and become a point of reference for the Julian communities and circles in all continents, aggregating the dispersed threads of an emigration that for many, especially for the Julian-Dalmatian exiles, no longer has its own motherland of reference.

“The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region – explains the president of the Giuliani nel Mondo Association, Paolo De Gavardo – is the body we refer to for funding and has provided, among other things, that there be a maintenance of memories within the circles that are around the world. In the Association there is a board of 20 people who work together with the president to collaborate with projects abroad. We analyze them and then we bring them to the regional council and it is in that place that funding is given. The type of initiatives we do as an association is to recover young people, to know what they have heard from their parents or grandparents and also putting them in front of what the current situations are: for example the type of work that is done in our regions and the level of work that is done. So if some of them wanted to come back, we can try in every way to make sure that happens. This is our goal”.

“The exhibition is divided into three parts - explains the curator, Romeo Pignat - The first session is dedicated to the causes of departures and especially to the three large waves that characterized this particular emigration: the wave from Bisiacaria, the emigration linked to the Istrian exodus and finally the emigration from Trieste which have particular causes. The second part is instead dedicated to the arrival in the countries of destination, in particular to the three large areas that were the point of reference for Julian emigration: Australia, North America and Latin America which represents historical emigration and then a session dedicated to the city of Rome, which welcomed many exiles in the Julian Dalmatian quarter. The third part of the exhibition is more specifically institutional and concerns the Giuliani nel mondo association which, since 1970, has worked precisely in favor of communities scattered throughout the world”.

The exhibition itinerary therefore presents places, moments and “climates” that have determined and accompanied great waves of migration over the course of a century, to finally set sail from those ports that have become symbols of this emigration, mostly transoceanic. Furthermore, it tells the story of emigration from Bisiacaria and more generally the Gorizia area, between the 10th and 1947th centuries, between the two world wars and in the post-war period, in a land severely tested by war conflicts and thorny border issues. And then there is the great exodus of Italians from the territories of Istria, Fiume, Quarnero and Dalmatia assigned to Yugoslavia, which reached its peak after the Paris Peace Treaty, on 1954 February 1961, with mass escapes by sea and by land, and often with long stays in refugee camps, before an emigration without return. Finally, the story of mass emigration from Trieste from XNUMX to XNUMX.

The section “Giuliani nel mondo” focuses on the continents and countries where the Giuliani have flocked: from the first impact with the great ports of the New World, to the hard and difficult paths of integration in the places of emigration, to the birth and growth of associations, with about a hundred circles up to now gathered around the Giuliani nel Mondo Association. Here then are the shots in Latin America, North America, Australia and the stories from the Bisiaco associations of the Thirties in Argentina, the long-distance marriages in Australia, the stories of the “Triestine Girls” in the United States and the deep interest in the themes of original identity by the Giuliano-Dalmatians of Canada. Africa and Asia also contain small but vital Giuliani communities: from the historic one of the Lussignani of South Africa, to the Shanghai Circle, which is placed on the new routes of professional mobility, becoming the first Giuliani association in Asia. Finally, Rome holds a special place in the hearts of the Giuliani, for two reasons: the presence of the Giuliano-Dalmata neighborhood of EUR, which welcomed and saw the rebirth and rebirth of a large community of Istrian, Fiume and Dalmatian exiles; the presence of a circle like the Association of Triestini and Goriziani in Rome, which has distinguished itself for its extraordinary cultural activity and some reference figures, who have entered the history of our country.

The exhibition, in addition to its three itineraries, concludes with a tribute to the “Julian Spirit” and to the many protagonists of an emigration that has left its creative and constructive mark throughout the world: women and men who have given prominence and prestige to the communities to which they belong, for having contributed to the development and progress of the countries that welcomed them.

Also present at the inauguration were the Honorable Debora Serracchiani, Senator Roberto Menia and Honorable Nicole Matteoni. “Ierimo, semo, sarà” can be visited from May 31st to June 9th, every day from 11:19.30 to 2:42 except Saturdays, Sundays and Friday June XNUMXnd. Entrance (piazza in Campo Marzio XNUMX) is free.

Source: Giuliani in the World Trieste – 30/05/2023