Friuli-Venezia Giulia

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Regione Autonoma Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Regjon autonome Friûl-Vignesie Julie
Avtonomna dežela Furlanija - Julijska krajina
Image:Friuli-Venezia Giulia-Flag.png

Capital	Trieste
President	Riccardo Illy (Independent-Union)
Provinces	Gorizia Pordenone Trieste Udine
Comuni	219
Area	7,856 km²
- Ranked	17th (2.6 %)
Population (2006 est.) - Total - Ranked - Density	1,208,278 15th (2.0 %) 154/km²
Image:Italy Regions Friuli-Venezia Giulia Map.png
Map highlighting the location of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy

Friuli-Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty Regions of Italy, and one of five with administrative autonomy. Located in northeastern Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia borders the region of Veneto to the west, the republics of Austria and Slovenia to the north and east, and the Adriatic Sea to the south. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of 7844 km² and 1.2 million inhabitants and the coastal length is 111,7 km. Its capital is Trieste (Slovene Trst, German Triest) pop. 210,000.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Friulian: Friûl-Vignesie Julie; Croatian and Slovenian: Furlanija - Julijska krajina; German: Friaul-Julisch Venetien) is comprised of two historical regions:

Friuli, which forms 90% of the territory, including the city of Udine (Friulian Udin, Slovenian Videm) pop. 97,000;
Venezia Giulia, including the capital city of Trieste (Slovenian/Croatian Trst) pop. 207,000.

Image:Friuli-Venezia Giulia Provinces.png

Friuli-Venezia Giulia is divided into the provinces of Gorizia, Pordenone, Trieste, and Udine.

The name comes from the Latin name of the town of Cividale, ancient capital of the Lombard duchy, which used to be "Forum Iulii" ("Julius' forum", named after Julius Caesar).

1 History
- 1.1 Slovenian language community
- 1.2 German language community
2 External links

[edit] History

Main articles: History of Friuli and Venezia Giulia.

This artificial region was created after World War II to solve the problem of Trieste, who had lost its natural hinterland, that was the major part of Venezia Giulia and has been included in the then-existing country of Yugoslavia. Therefore it was decided to aggregate the historical region of Friuli to Trieste.

A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is traversed by the major transport routes between the east and west of southern Europe.

Apart from Italian, the Friulian language is spoken throughout the region; there is also a sizeable Slovenian and a small German minority.

Image:Friuli-venezia giulia1.jpg

[edit] Slovenian language community

The Slovenian language is spoken in the eastern parts of the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia, in the Resia valley and in the upper valleys of the rivers Torre and Natisone, with many villages having both Italian and Slovenian names.

[edit] German language community

The number of German speakers in Friuli-Venezia Giulia is estimated to be around 2,000. They live in the Channel Valley (municipalities of Tarvis, Malborghetto-Valbruna, and Pontebba), which is adjacent to Austria, and in the municipality of Zahre (Sauris)and the village of Tischlbong (municipality of Paluzza), which each form a language exclave.