Quaderni, Vol. XXXVII No. 1, 2026.
Stručni rad
FROM PERIPHERAL BORDERLAND TO THE SENTINEL OF ITALY: THE JULIAN MARCH, BOTH ITALIAN AND FRIULIAN QUESTION (PART ONE)
Stefano Felcher
; Ricercatore indipendente Udine – Italia
Sažetak
The geopolitical and identity-related evolution of Friuli from the second half of the
nineteenth century to the end of the First World War is closely connected to the genesis
of the geographical concept of “Julian March” and the development of local historicallinguistic
studies. A rich scholarly and public debate that saw active participation of
geographers, linguists and politicians demonstrates that the nineteenth-century
academism, focused on rediscovering the Friulian language, was progressively used as
an ideological weapon by the Irredentist movement active in the Gorizia area. The said
process was originally anti-Habsburg. Meant to oppose Slavic consolidation and Pan-
Slavism, it culminated in the first postwar period with a definitive metamorphosis of
Friulian regionalism into an instrument of Italian frontier nationalism. Such a scenario
presented a perfect strategic convergence between the liberal state and the emerging
Friulian Fascism in implementing a rigid policy of forced assimilation in the former
County of Gorizia. Shaping the Friulian specificity as a rampart of “Roman identity”
as well as the projects of administrative and electoral merger of Udine and Gorizia
were aimed at geopolitically diluting the pressure of Slovenian minorities, definitively
altering the border from a historical transit area to a rigid ideological barrier.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
353244
URI
Datum izdavanja:
12.11.2026.
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