Joke, pun, witty remark. “Christmas packages in installments? No, with money in hand; but then no more vice; with money in hand you can find them everywhere”

This is what Enrico Rosamani reported in his “Julian Vocabulary of the dialects spoken in the Julian-Dalmatian Region as it was established by mutual agreement between the two States involved in the Rapallo Conference of 12/11/1920”, published in 1958.

Proverbs and sayings that were often modified in the various dialects of different influences, from Trieste to Pola, from Rovigno to Muggia, from Zara to Veglia. But the ultimate meaning remained the same.

Folklore is not just a collection and examination of popular beliefs and opinions in the face of physical phenomena and psychic facts.
It is also a search for the human soul in the customs of daily life, through ceremonies and festive and artistic manifestations of all kinds.

Proverbs reflect reality, often satirical and ironic, the Viz precisely. Life of a people who translated them into letters and sounds. Julian and Istrian Dalmatian folklore, fruit of an essentially Italian spirit and thought.

Nicolò Tommaseo wrote: “If it were possible to collect and organize under certain headings all the Italian proverbs, the proverbs of every people, of every age with the variations of words, imaginations and concepts; this would be the book most full of thoughts after the Bible”.

Often divided by subject, they all have an ironic thread, whether they refer to childhood “Fioi e colombi muore la casa” (Flowers and pigeons dirty the house), to learning “Tell me who you're going with and I'll tell you who I am”, to youth “Giovine ossioso vècio pedocioso” (Young ossious old man pedocioso), to trust “Come che ti facendo, cussì ti gavarà” (However it will make you, that's how it will please you), to the seasons “L'inverno can el salva vin e pan” (Winter can save wine and bread) or even to polenta “Polenta
fried, make life longer”.

The Botterini Vocabulary, published by the Gorizia Committee of the ANVGD in collaboration with the Documentation Centre
Multimedia of Trieste, recalls some of them, highlighting how the mainly Venetian phraseology is also partially clouded by some Austro-German words that a century of that domination has left as a legacy. As it is precisely
the use of the term Witz.

The local voice of the Viz was Angelo Cecchelin, very popular for his ferocious and constant mockery of everything and everyone, the classic Triestine contrarian. An irredentist at the time of the Austro-Hungarian empire and irreverent in mocking the fascist leaders, he was later guilty of denunciation during the “40 days” of Yugoslav occupation of Trieste. A very popular and controversial character who, in addition to Trieste, initially promoted his shows in Istria.

Column published in “Il Piccolo” on December 28, 2021 by the provincial committee of Trieste of the National Association of Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia and the Multimedia Documentation Center of Julian, Istrian, Rijeka and Dalmatian culture.