Dalmatian Italians
Overview of Zara (now Zadar in Croatian Dalmatia), where Dalmatian Italians are about 0.13% of the population. In 1921, the Dalmatian Italians were 70% of the city's population. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Dalmatia, former Venetian Albania, Italy | |
| Languages | |
| Primarily Italian and Croatian, Venetian, formerly Dalmatian | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholic | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Croats, Serbs, Montenegrins, other Italians Especially Istrian Italians and Venetians |
Dalmatian Italians (Italian: dalmati italiani; Croatian: Dalmatinski Talijani) are the historical Italian national minority living in the region of Dalmatia, now part of Croatia and Montenegro.
Historically, Italian language-speaking Dalmatians accounted for 12.5% of population in 1865, 5.8% in 1880, and to 2.8% in 1910, suffering from a constant trend of decreasing presence, due to various reasons.
Before 1859, Italian was the language of administration, education, the press, and the Austrian navy. People who wished to acquire higher social standing and separate from the Slav peasantry became Italians. In the years after 1866, Italians lost their privileges in Austria-Hungary, their assimilation of the Slavs came to an end, and they found themselves under growing pressure by other rising nations. With the rising Slav tide after 1890, italianized Slavs reverted to being Croats. All but one of the 82 urban communities got Slav government majority by 1910. Austrian rulers found use of the racial antagonism and financed Slav schools and promoted Croatian as the official language. Many Italians chose voluntary exile.
After the Capitulation of Italy in World War II and until 1960, the number of Dalmatian Italians decreased as a result of the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus. Nowadays, some 500–2,000 people in Dalmatia (0.05%–0.2%) identify as Italians.
Throughout history Dalmatian Italians exerted a significant influence on Dalmatia, especially cultural and architectural.
Dalmatian Italians are currently represented in Croatia and Montenegro by the Italian National Community (Italian: Comunità Nazionale Italiana) (CNI). The Italo-Croatian minorities treaty recognizes the Italian Union (Unione Italiana) as the political party officially representing the CNI in Croatia.
The Italian Union represents the 30,000 ethnic Italians of former Yugoslavia, living mainly in Istria and in the city of Rijeka (Fiume). Following the positive trend observed during the last decade (i.e., after the dissolution of Yugoslavia), the number of Dalmatian Italians in Croatia adhering to the CNI has risen to around one thousand. In Dalmatia the main operating centers of the CNI are in Split, Zadar, and Kotor.