109-574: Korčula ( Croatian: [kɔ̂ːrtʃula] , Italian : Curzola ) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea . It has an area of 279 km (108 sq mi), is 46.8 km (29.1 mi) long and on average 7.8 km (4.8 mi) wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after Krk . The population are almost entirely ethnic Croats (95.74%). The island
218-664: A local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it
327-408: A colony on Korkyra Melaina" details the agreement reached by an assembly to establish and distribute land parcels to Greek colonists who arrived from the island of Issa (today known as Vis ). It is thought to date from 300–250 BC. The settlement is believed to have been located close to present-day Lumbarda , on a strategically important location overlooking the narrow strait separating Korčula and
436-550: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
545-455: A list of 200 names of Greek families who settled the area. This valuable document is the oldest piece of writing found on the territory of Croatia. Its significance is in that it confirms that ancient Illyrians lived on the island of Korčula, and also offers insight into the way Greeks set up colonies and trading outposts throughout Dalmatia . The colonies were set up so the Greeks could trade with
654-464: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
763-766: A minor clash near Ayas . After the writings of Pope Martin IV in 1284 and Pope Honorius IV in 1286 to the Archbishop of Ragusa , the Archbishop installed a certain Petar as Bishop of Ston and Korčula – stacnensis ac Crozolensis . In 1291, Ivan Kručić was in Korčula's city as the Bishop of Korčula. Kručić contested his overlord, the Archbishop of Hvar , and wanted to unite Ston with his church domain. In 1300, Pope Boniface VIII finally founded
872-747: A part of the autonomous Banovina of Croatia . After the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, Italy annexed the island. After the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy and the Allied powers in September 1943, it was briefly held by the Yugoslav Partisans who enjoyed considerable support in the region. Korčula was then occupied by German forces which controlled the island until their withdrawal in September 1944. With
981-645: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
1090-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
1199-645: A resolution arrived at by voting. The artifact is considered the oldest written document ever found in Croatia, and is today kept at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb . The island of Korčula ( Ancient Greek : Μέλαινα Κόρκυρα , lit. 'Black Korkyra '), already had a Greek settlement on its western side, founded by settlers from Knidos , at the time the inscription was made. The document, titled descriptively by scholars as "Decree of Issa concerning
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#17328630941961308-509: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
1417-456: A seasonal service linking Korčula with Drvenik . There are also bus services that link the island to major cities on the mainland, which reach Korčula using the Orebić ferry service. Korčula town also has mooring facilities. The western harbour gives shelter from wind though not against the bora and north-westerlies. Boat owners are advised to shift to the eastern harbour or to Luka Cove. The port
1526-421: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Lumbarda Psephisma The Lumbarda Psephisma ( Croatian : Lumbardska psefizma ), also known as Lumbardian Decree , is an ancient Greek stone inscription dating from
1635-474: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
1744-504: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
1853-544: Is twinned with Rothesay in Scotland. It is known for Grk, a white wine that is only produced here and not exported due to limited production. The island of Korčula belongs to the central Dalmatian archipelago, separated from the Pelješac peninsula by a narrow Strait of Pelješac, between 900 and 3,000 metres (3,000 and 9,800 feet) wide. It stretches in the east–west direction, in length of 47 kilometres (29 miles); on average, it
1962-465: Is 8 km (5.0 miles) wide. With an area of 279 square kilometres (108 sq mi), it is the sixth largest Adriatic island . The highest peaks are Klupca , 568 metres (1,864 ft) and Kom , 510 metres (1,670 ft) high. Main settlements on the island are towns of Korčula , Blato and Vela Luka . Villages along the coast are Brna , Račišće , Lumbarda and Prižba ; Žrnovo , Pupnat , Smokvica and Čara are located inland. The island
2071-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
2180-729: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
2289-504: Is divided into municipalities of Korčula, Smokvica, Blato and Lumbarda. The climate is Mediterranean ; an average air temperature in January is 9.8 °C (49.6 °F) and in July 26.9 °C (80.4 °F); the average annual rainfall is 1,100 mm (43.3 in). The island is largely covered with Mediterranean flora including extensive pine forests. The main road runs along the spine of
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#17328630941962398-528: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
2507-455: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
2616-458: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
2725-461: Is not known but the sites do provide a window into their way of life. The second wave of human settlement was by Illyrians , documented around 1,000 BC. They were semi-nomadic tribal people living from agriculture. There are numerous old stone buildings and fortresses ( gradine ) left behind by the Illyrians. Melaina Korkyra ( Greek : Μέλαινα Κόρκυρα , lit. 'Black Korkyra ')
2834-537: Is open to international seaborne traffic as a permanent port of entry ; it offers all types of repairs to hulls and engines at the Brodograditelj Shipyard. Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from
2943-575: Is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as
3052-605: Is the oldest written stone monument in Croatia, records that Greek settlers from Issa ( Vis ) founded another colony on the island in the 3rd century BC. The two communities lived peacefully until the Illyrian Wars (220 BC to 219 BC) with the Romans . The island became part of the Roman province of Illyricum after the Illyrian Wars. Roman migration followed and Roman citizens arrived on
3161-538: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
3270-501: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
3379-936: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
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3488-728: The Bosnian King Stephen Tvrtko I in the summer of 1390. However the Kingdom of Hungary restored rule of the island, and in December 1396 Croatian - Hungarian King Sigismund gave it to Đurađ II Stracimirović of the Balšić dynasty of Zeta , who kept it up to his death in 1403, when it was returned under the Hungarian crown. In 1409 it again became a part of the Republic of Venice, purchased by
3597-672: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
3706-649: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
3815-763: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
3924-684: The Korčula Bishopric under the Archbishopric of Ragusa. In 1333, as the Republic of Ragusa purchased Ston with Pelješac from the Serbian Empire , the suzerainty of Ston's Roman Catholic Church with the peninsula was given to the Bishopric of Korčula. Curzola, as the Venetians called the island, surrendered to the Kingdom of Hungary in 1358 according to the Treaty of Zadar , but it surrendered to
4033-1019: The Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak a local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
4142-634: The Pelješac peninsula, in an area populated by native Illyrian tribes. According to the document, the Issans established their settlement based on a prior agreement with two representatives of local Illyrians named Pyllos and his son Dazos: "During the time of the Hieromnemon Praxidamos, in the Machanemus month, the contract about the founding of the settlement was drawn up between the people from Issa and Pyllos and his son Dazos. The founders agreed and
4251-539: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
4360-424: The Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik), which in turn captured all of Stracimir's galleys . The Statute of Korčula was first drafted in 1214. It guaranteed the relative autonomy of the island against her outside rulers including the semi-independent Grand Principality of Zachlumia, the Grand Principality of Serbia , the Kingdom of Hungary-Croatia and the Republics of Ragusa and Venice. Captains were created for each of
4469-399: The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in 1918. It was ruled by Italy from 1918 to 1921. It became part of the Province of Dalmatia , before becoming part of the Dubrovnik Oblast in 1922. Later, it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known from 1929 on as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . The island became part of the Littoral Banovina in 1929 and in 1939 it became
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4578-494: The Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and the Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and
4687-406: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
4796-403: The early Middle Ages the Croatian population of the island was grouped with the pagan Narentines or Neretvians, who quickly learned maritime skills in this new environment and became engaged in piracy against Venetian trade ships. Initially, Venetian merchants were willing to pay an annual tribute to keep their shipping safe from the infamous Neretvian pirates of the Dalmatian coast. After
4905-439: The liberation of Yugoslavia in 1945, the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, and Korčula became a part of the People's Republic of Croatia, one of the six Yugoslav republics. The state changed the name to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1953, and so did the Republic to Socialist Republic of Croatia . After 1991 , the island became a part of the independent Republic of Croatia . The 17th century saw
5014-406: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
5123-458: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
5232-438: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
5341-400: The 3rd or 4th century BC. The artifact was discovered in 1877 in Lumbarda , a small village on the eastern tip of the island of Korčula in modern-day Croatia , and talks about the founding of a Greek settlement on that location by colonists from Issa (today's island of Vis ). "Psephisma" ( Ancient Greek : ψήφισμα , romanized : psḗphisma ) is a term used in ancient Greece for
5450-465: The 6th and 7th centuries brought Slavic invasions into this region. Along the Dalmatian coast the Slavic peoples including the Croats poured out of the interior and seized control of the area of the Neretva Delta , as well as the island of Korčula, which protects the river mouth. The Christianisation of the Croats began in the 9th century, but the early Croatian rural inhabitants of the island may well have fully accepted Christianity only later; in
5559-446: The 9th century, the island was briefly under nominal Byzantine suzerainty. In 998 the Principality of Pagania came under Venetian control. Doge Pietro II Orseolo launched a naval expedition along the coast and assumed the title Duke of Dalmatia. Afterwards Korčula came under the control of the Great Principality of Zachlumia . In the 12th century Korčula was conquered by a Venetian nobleman, Pepone Zorzi, and incorporated briefly into
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#17328630941965668-400: The Austrian crown land of Dalmatia . From 1867 , Korčula was in the Cisleithanian part of Austria-Hungary . During the World War I , the island and other territories were promised to the Kingdom of Italy in the 1915 Treaty of London in return for Italy joining the war on the side of Great Britain and France . However, after the war, Korčula and the rest of Dalmatia became a part of
5777-429: The Illyrians. There is no evidence to suggest that the two communities interacted on a larger scale, and it is likely that they kept to themselves. The Illyrians who had lived according to their ancient ways in the region for centuries as tribal farmers and livestock herders, and they would have been a sharp contrast to the Greek Hellenic way of doing things, with their urban culture and social organization. Nevertheless,
5886-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
5995-439: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
6104-497: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
6213-438: The Republic of Venice. Around this time, the local Korčula rulers began to exercise diplomacy and legislate a town charter to secure the independence of the island, particularly with regard to internal affairs, given its powerful neighbors. The brothers of Stephen Nemanja , Miroslav and Stracimir , launched an attack on the island on 10 August 1184, raiding its fertile western part. The island's inhabitants called for help from
6322-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
6431-455: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
6540-405: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
6649-408: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
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#17328630941966758-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
6867-415: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
6976-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
7085-420: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
7194-420: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
7303-409: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
7412-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
7521-410: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
7630-428: The island connecting all settlements from Lumbarda on the eastern to Vela Luka on the western end, with the exception of Račišće, which is served by a separate road running along the northern coast. Ferries connect the town of Korčula with Orebić on the Pelješac peninsula. Another line connects Vela Luka with Split and the island of Lastovo . Fast passenger catamarans connect those two ports with Split, Dubrovnik and
7739-431: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
7848-557: The island with Russian naval assistance in 1807 during his attempt to construct another Serbian Empire. The defeat of Austria however at the Battle of Wagram in 1809 had put most of the Adriatic under French control. On 4 February 1813 however, British troops and naval forces under Thomas Fremantle captured the island from the French. This short period of British rule left an important mark on
7957-539: The island's capital and razed or damaged some of its churches in the process, forcing the Counts to return to Venetian suzerainty. What is more definite is that in 1298 the Republic of Genoa defeated Venice in the documented Battle of Curzola off the coast of Korčula and a galley commander, Marco Polo , was taken prisoner by the victors to eventually spend his time in a Genoese prison writing of his travels. However, some Italian scholars believe that he may have been captured in
8066-591: The island's five settlements for organized defence. Korčula had fewer than 2,500 inhabitants at that time. In 1221, Pope Honorius III gave the island to the Princes of Krka (the Šubić family ). During the 13th century the hereditary Counts of Korčula were loosely governed in turn by the Hungarian crown and by the Republic of Genoa but also enjoyed a brief period of independence. In 1255, however, Marsilio Zorzi conquered
8175-459: The island. Roman villas appeared through the territory of Korčula and there is evidence of an organised agricultural exploitation of the land. There are archaeological remains of Roman Junianum on the island and old church foundations. In 10 AD, Illyricum was split into two provinces, Pannonia and Dalmatia . Korčula became part of the ancient Roman province of Dalmatia. In the 6th century it came under Byzantine rule. The Great Migrations of
8284-554: The island; the new stone West quay was built, as well as a semi-circular paved terrace with stone benches on the newly built road towards Lumbarda, and a circular Martello tower , "forteca" on the St. Blaise's Hill above the town. According to the terms of the Congress of Vienna , the British left the island to the Austrian Empire in the 19th of July of 1815. Korčula accordingly became a part of
8393-529: The islands of Hvar , Lastovo and Mljet . According to legend, the island was founded by Trojan hero Aeneas or his friend Antenor . The island was first settled by Mesolithic and Neolithic peoples. There is archaeological evidence at the sites of Vela Spila and at Jakas Cave near the village of Žrnovo. The findings at Vela Spila are on display at the Center for Culture in Vela Luka. The fate of these peoples
8502-631: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
8611-491: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
8720-525: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
8829-514: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
8938-733: The main Venetian fortified arsenal in this region. According to the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797 in which the Republic of Venice was divided between the French Republic and the Habsburg monarchy , Korčula passed on to the Habsburg monarchy. The French Empire invaded the island in 1806, joining it to the Illyrian Provinces . The Montenegrin Forces of vladika Petar I Petrović-Njegoš conquered
9047-794: The municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and
9156-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
9265-488: The neighbouring Republic of Venice in 1413–1417, it still declared itself subjected to Venice in 1420. In 1571 it defended itself so gallantly against the Ottoman attackers at the Battle of Lepanto that it obtained the designation Fidelissima from Pope Pius V . Korčula had for years supplied the timber for the wooden walls of Venice, and had been a favourite station of her fleets. From 1776 to 1797 Korčula succeeded Hvar as
9374-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
9483-580: The official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and the language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During
9592-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
9701-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
9810-453: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
9919-455: The people decided: that those who first took the land and walled the town would get special sites for building inside the fortified town ...and that the authorities swear that the town and the land will never again be divided .. ." The stone inscription was discovered on top of a hill called Koludrt, and it is believed that this is where the Issan town most likely once stood. The document ends with
10028-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
10137-518: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
10246-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
10355-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
10464-479: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
10573-472: The rise of Petar Kanavelić who wrote love songs, occasional epic poems and dramas. He also translated from Italian the major poetic works of that time. He is regarded as one of the greatest Croatian writers of the 17th century. In 1673 he became the representative of the Korčula community in Venice. There is a primary school named after him in the town of Korčula. Moreška is a traditional sword dance from
10682-481: The rule of the Republic of Venice (1420–1797). The island also has a very strong art tradition. The Korkyra Baroque Festival is an annual international event, launched in 2012. The festival showcases a selection of the world's leading ensembles and soloists specialized in Baroque music . Over ten days a series of concerts and supporting events focus on Baroque music, promoting the richness of Korčula's cultural monuments and
10791-464: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
10900-463: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
11009-529: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
11118-439: The town of Korčula. It is one of the many proud traditional sword dances that are performed on the island. It arrived in Korčula around the 16th century. Korčula has a rich musical history of klape groups. Klapa is a form of a cappella style of singing. The tradition goes back centuries, but the style as we know it today, originated in the 19th century. Korčula has a tradition of stonemasonry , which reached its peak during
11227-493: The two communities coexisted peacefully until the Illyro-Roman Wars in the latter part of 3rd century BC. Based on historical facts there were two Greek Colonies on Korčula. Periegesis in the 1st century mentions a Greek Cnidian colony on island Black Kerkyra (Korčula) Greek colonists from Corcyra ( Corfu ) formed a small colony on the island in the 6th century BC. Black Corfu (Korčula) was named after their homeland and,
11336-542: The whole town as a unique architectural treasure. Korčula is linked to the mainland by a regular ferry service that runs between Dominče, just outside the town of Korčula and Orebić. There are numerous other local ferry services including one linking Vela Luka and Lastovo. The main Croatian ferry operator Jadrolinija runs a service linking Korčula Town with Rijeka , Split, Hvar, Mljet, Dubrovnik and (from May to September) Bari . An operator Linijska Nacionalna Plovidba runs
11445-548: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
11554-516: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
11663-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
11772-630: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
11881-465: Was the ancient Cnidian Greek colony founded on Korčula. Greek colonists from Corfu formed a colony on the island in the 6th century B.C. The Greeks named it "Black Korkyra" after their homeland and the dense pine-woods on the island. Greek artifacts, including carved marble tombstones can be found at the local Korčula town museum. A stone inscription found in Lumbarda ( Lumbarda Psephisma ) and which
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